Swollen Obsidian Eyes
by LavenderBathBeads
Summary: [ItaSasu] Life would never be the same. A night of ghastly pain leads to the man he once hated coming to seek his help. When something that started as hate becomes a deep passion that he never thought he could have, who can help but cry? Blaze's Fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of the characters that are involved in the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Warnings:** This chapter contains rape, yaoi incest (this is after all an ItaSasu), slight bondage, blood/violence, and vulgar language. This is also somewhat OOC and not true to the way that the canon works out (will be more obvious in future chapters.) This is also really long (all of the chapters are long). There might also be some errors in here that I couldn't pick up, but then again, I'm not perfect. This is also written by Blaze (see profile for confusion.)

* * *

Chills, so many chills running down his spine as he walked by the river, his heart almost stopping in his chest as he dug a foot into the hard dirt of the ground. The moon was high in the sky illuminating onto the lightly moving water filling his body with eerie shivers. 

_Why is it so cold? _He asked, his arms wrapping around his body as he looked at the water. His obsidian eyes closed walking toward the edge of the river. He stopped his search for his teammates knowing that they would meet up with them eventually. The cool air filled his lungs as he took a deep breath, a cough leaving his lips.

Drawn by some force he moved closer still to the edge of the river looking into the placid water. The weight from his numbing body forced him to fall to the ground, still gazing into the liquid. There was a throbbing pain in his heart as he looked through the waves and saw his own face seeing his eyes staring back at him.

_There's something about my eyes, they're no longer mine, they've grown cold, starting to resemble his. _He shook his head and threw a pebble into the water blankly watching it skid across the surface. The lump in his throat forming from the cold made it difficult to breathe, his chest tightening. _Where are they?_

He heard a noise behind him like footstep digging into the ground, they were coming his way. "Hello?" he asked, it had to be Sakura or Naruto, they were bound to go looking for him after they all were going to meet up.

His heart was racing as he looked back into the river trying to block out the thoughts of a criminal coming to take him away. But he had to remain calm; Naruto would never let him hear the end of it. "Hello?" he never took his eyes off of the river. Then there they were, those horrible red eyes burning with all of the memories from his youth going back to that cold day.

"Itachi Uchiha," he snarled as he turned around, all of the hate he had been holding for the past years rolling back. "How dare you show your face in Konoha again? After what you pulled?"

Itachi looked into the water past the young boy. "I just came to talk, Sasuke. There's no use getting mad."

Sasuke stood up and walked to his brother, every single step digging deeper into the ground with all of his anger put into each movement. He looked into his brother's eyes remembering the last time he heard him laugh, the last time he saw him genuinely smile. But it was all a lie; there was nothing behind those eyes anymore but the blood of the clan, all that was still dancing through his mind.

"What are you doing here for real, you bastard?!" Sasuke cursed as he looked up into his brother's eyes. "You're never going to let me off that easy, you always beat around the Goddamn bush!"

Itachi closed his eyes taking in a deep breath. "You're out of line."

His head was spinning with all of the hate that he had been repressing for years. "I want you to stop acting so calm around me."

"You're not worth my time," the elder of the two answered as he turned his face away brushing the stray hairs from his face with his finely manicured hand.

Sasuke's onyx eyes narrowed as his chest filled with more pressure from his memories. "Then why the fuck are you here?" he pulled out a kunai throwing it through the air toward his brother. But in the blink of an eye it was in Itachi's hand an inch away from his neck.

Red eyes looked straight into onyx. "You're predictable, foolish little brother. Haven't you learned anything? A real ninja would never attack during this, I have the upper hand." He threw the kunai back. "I outrank you, you're nothing."

Sasuke stood idle as the kunai came closer to him seeing his childhood flash before his eyes. He wanted to move, but the hate in his brother's eyes made his body freeze right where he was. But then he felt the sharp pain run up his arm to his shoulder, his crimson blood hitting the ground in small amounts.

"Itachi!" Sasuke screamed as he grabbed the kunai trying to pull it out, shrieking out in pain as he hit a nerve. "What are you trying to do?"

The elder looked down at him. "A real ninja doesn't run into a battle when he knows that he will lose."

Sasuke took a deep breath of the cold air; his lungs still chilling with pain feeling the small capillaries constrict to keep him warm. He looked up into Itachi's eyes watching them run dry of all of the childlike emotion that he once possessed.

"Not anymore…" he panted his throat dry, his head spinning with pain. "I won't lose to you anymore!"

He moved forward through the haze of his fury. The taste of the moment filled his mouth, gently passing beyond his lips. Swallowing hard, he saw his brother right before him, only an arms length away. Only in his dreams did he even get to touch that fair porcelain skin, feel his blood run down his fingers.

As he stood right in front of him ready to attack, the air current changed, the very comfort that he held onto the whole night was gone as he felt purple painted nails dig into his scalp pulling him closer.

"What are you thinking?" Itachi asked. "Are you trying to embarrass yourself?"

Sasuke felt him being pushed to his knees still being held by his hair, hands moving into the chilling water of the river. His voice let out a shrill as he was pushed down further his shirt becoming damp with the liquid, his skin constricting. His face was pushed into the water, mouth filling with the ice cold matter rushing down his throat. He tried to breathe, his lungs cutting off all air supply as he opened his eyes seeing only the murky darkness.

"A ninja is more than you think, it's more than weapons. Being a ninja is an art and you don't have the capability to hold that title, you never did, Sasuke." He pushed him down further, Sasuke swallowing another mouthful of water. "Art is more than just paint and clay, it's pure raw talent, a ninja is an embodiment of that. You're too weak to hold a candle to half of our clan. You call yourself an Uchiha!"

Sasuke swallowed again trying to keep his mouth clear as more bubbles flowed to the surface, his hands trying to push him back up. But Itachi was too strong pushing him down until the tip of his nose hit the bottom of the bank bringing the silt up his nose. He fought harder as his breath seeped out of his lips thinking about what he had done to his best friend those years ago. Was this his fate?

As he thought that all was gone he was surprised to see the air again, the sand dripping out of his nose as he coughed, all of the contents that he swallowed seeping back up his throat. Turning around he saw the look in his brother's eyes seeing nothing behind them.

"You're not worth killing," Itachi breathed as he pushed a coughing Sasuke to the ground. "Look at you, you're pitiful, you're nothing. You haven't proven your value."

Sasuke retched as the fluid fell from his lips falling into the water making a white pus material. He couldn't see straight as he remembered the day when the police came to his house. Shisui, all he could think about was Shisui drowning in the river. He swallowed hard as his eyes wandered off.

"Is this…?" he coughed. "Is this what you did you Shisui?"

Itachi let out a low laugh as he grasped Sasuke's chin lightly. "Shisui was lucky to die for the cause, he didn't have to go through the pain that I gave to you, you little fool. He got the easy way out."

Sasuke shook his head as he pushed Itachi's hand away closing his eyes tightly, tears of pain rolling down his cheeks, the same pressure in his chest making his lungs almost explode right in his chest. His hand clenched into a fist the flow of chakra filling his veins. His body was shaking, adrenaline rushing with the high of his precious dream. His hand lunged forward reaching out to hit Itachi in his weak spots.

_Crunch! _The sound echoes through the night making the chill even more terrifying. The next noise that filled the air was the sound of coughing, hard coughing mixed with retching. His eyes went to his brother who was hunched over, bleeding from the mouth, blood dripping onto Sasuke's knuckles. The warmth of Itachi's blood make shivers roll down his spine, he saw the look in scarlet eyes seeing a glimpse of pain that he hadn't seen in years.

"Sasuke…" he panted coughing again grasping his chest, his lips lacquered with scarlet. "You're going to regret that…" he swallowed hard gagging at the taste of his blood. "You're going to regret that, Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked wide eyed at the anger in his brother's voice, he never heard him raise his voice like that. Even when they were young he was a mostly calm person. He had done something to him, something to arouse the beast within. He felt the heat of his brother's anger take over as he grabbed at his wrists squeezing tightly.

Sasuke breathed as Itachi squeezed tighter pushing him to the ground, his hands situated above his head. "Itachi!"

Itachi reached into his robe and pulled out two sais watching as Sasuke's hands started to recover from the pressure. He spun them around once and then pressed them down, his wrist stuck in between the prongs. The metal was unforgiving and tight around his slim wrists as he tried to move them away from the weapons only drawing a small amount of blood. He let out a loud frustrated scream trying to pull harder, his heart racing to an incredible speed.

"Pull all you want," Itachi smirked, his lips still covered in blood. "You're too weak to get out of that hold." He reached into his robe pulling out a kunai holding it up. "But let's see how strong you are." He licked the kunai teasingly as he looked into Sasuke's watering eyes.

Sasuke stopped struggling watching as glistening saliva coated the metal of the kunai. "I-I don't understand what's going on, Itachi, what are you trying to prove?"

The attention from the kunai was focused on him now as Itachi moved closer resting the smooth flesh of his nose up against his brother's, his breath on Sasuke's lips. Sasuke looked into the blood red eyes that were looking right into his trying to see what he was trying to do.

Itachi drew closer to Sasuke's lips, the younger of the two trying to move away, but his arms were still bound by the sais. He felt Itachi's lips just barely touch his letting out a gasp. But then he was taken fully, Itachi's lips harshly moving against his, his tongue filling his mouth exploring deeper.

Pushing away, he moved his chest closer to his older brother's letting out muffled screams of protest. He was gagging on Itachi's tongue as it went closer to the back of his mouth. Sasuke curled his hands into fists feeling more blood drawing from his wrists, letting out more strangles noises, his body shaking with horror. Every muscle in his body was tightening, his heart racing so fast that it hurt to breathe.

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed as he turned away and coughed, trying to catch his breath, removing the horrid taste of Itachi's blood from his mouth. "What the hell…"

"You could have avoided this," were the words that seeped out of the lips smeared with blood. "You could have handled this peacefully."

"You never gave a damn about peace," Sasuke spat his hands shaking. "Now let me loose, you sick bastard! Let me loose! You fucking…" he let out a sharp breath as he felt cool moist metal hit the skin of his neck, it was the kunai that Itachi had pulled out, and he was staring at him again the hate still in his eyes.

"Still using that vulgar language, what shame you bring upon our clan. But there is a deeper shame you bring to yourself," he switched the kunai to his left hand as his other trailed down Sasuke's body. "You have no way to stop me, with your hands so far apart you can't make seals."

Sasuke let out a harsh breath as Itachi's hand traveled over the cloth of his pants that covered his groin, his body was going into full on convulsions. He looked back at the water in a sick way wishing that he did drown.

"I-Itachi," he begged softly.

He felt the hands move down his pants, the warm flesh touching his sensitive skin. A moan bubbled from his throat as he closed his obsidian eyes as tight as they could go. Behind his eyes he could feel all of the emotion that he had been holding back for so long starting to run down his cheeks. The warm water fell to the dry ground as his body shook his legs pushing together in absolute horror.

"Please, Itachi," Sasuke begged as he tried to move his hands again.

"It's useless," Itachi smiled stroking the sensitive skin in Sasuke's pants. "I told you aren't going to get loose. So do yourself a favor and stop trying."

Feeling the strength of his brother's hand coax him to a semi hard state, he had to shake his head to destroy the blurs that were plaguing his vision, his body was sweating as he tightened his legs together so tight that they were going to bruise. He felt the blood that was heating his body from the chill of the cold night air heat to a boiling temperature rushing hurriedly throughout his body. Itachi only moved faster as Sasuke's thighs clenched, moaning lightly at the pressure.

"Your legs are beautiful," Itachi breathed as he wrapped his hand around Sasuke's length squeezing tightly.

Sasuke let out a loud moan his teeth clenching together to muffle the sounds that Itachi wanted to hear. "You've had your fun…"

"My dear brother," Itachi breathed abruptly taking his hand away making Sasuke pants loudly. "What makes you think I've had my fun?"

"You sick bastard…" Sasuke breathed his chest rising and falling dramatically. "You twisted sadist…"

"Sasuke," Itachi laughed as he licked along his younger brother's pulse point, making him breathe heavily. "Tell me why you think so little of something that you've wanted all along." He sunk his teeth into the crook his brother's neck blood rolling out of the skin into his mouth.

Sasuke screamed loudly, the sound reverberating off of all of the buildings in the entire village. But Itachi only sunk his teeth in deeper as he sucked at the broken flesh, more blood subtracted from his body. He felt the hair tied in Itachi's ponytail fall to touch his shoulder tickling him lightly. The aroma coming off of the hairs was so strong, the smell of blood and perfume.

"Itachi!" he shrieked as he felt teeth clench tighter onto his neck. "That hurts, that _really _hurts." He started to shake, his breathing turning into sobs. "Why are you doing this to me? Does it give you that much pleasure?"

Itachi pulled out his teeth as he licked up the excess blood kissing along Sasuke's jaw line. Sasuke swallowed hard as he felt his brother's hand move back down to his pants, lowering the kunai onto the ground. With a flick of his fingers he undid the button that was holding them closed. This was the point where the confusion was whirling around his head in a horrendous storm, what were his intentions? The pants were now sliding just a little down his legs leaving him exposed, and his hands allowed him to do nothing to save him from this horrible fate.

He felt his brother's fingers curl tightly around his length sliding the blood onto his skin, making his throat tight, breath struggling to pass his lips. His saliva ran out of his mouth, the tightness in his throat making it impossible for him to even swallow.

"I-Itachi," he breathed trying to make all of the pain go away, he wasn't really here, he wasn't right in front of him touching him, telling him that he was enjoying this. It was all a lie, none of this was true.

"Do you really dislike it that much?" Itachi asked in a calm voice.

Tears fell down his cheeks in vast quantities, drowning his mind in the tears of his childhood. His fear was coming true; his brother was hurting him, killing him, destroying him internally, pounding his sanity until there was nothing left.

"Itachi! Please!" Sasuke begged his body shaking violently. "Just let me go, I swear that I will leave peacefully. Just let me go… don't do this!" he closed his eyes turning his head to the side. "Please!"

He felt a hand pressed up against his cheek pushing him back to face the face of his violator. His eyes stayed closed tightly not opening even in the least bit. He was going to drain all of the pain out of his mind before he went insane.

"Don't turn away; when you gave up your life for that of a ninja, you relinquished all ability to show fear. You chose this life, you could have chosen a different one, but you're stuck now." Scarlet eyes narrowed. "For you, this is how it ends…"

Hearing the words seeping from his brother's lips made Sasuke's eyes open slightly, letting in the darkness that was churning with the freezing sting in the air. He had to get out; it was either get out or lose all control of his mind. He moved his hands swearing that he felt one moved from the force, but not enough to free himself. The sobs that left his lips became louder as he began to scream out moving his feet uncomfortably.

"Itachi!" he screamed loudly hoping someone would hear him.

The response brought more chills, Itachi face was vacant of all emotion, the thrilling grin from his sadism was gone. He just looked upon his screaming brother without an ounce of pity. The chilling wind rolled across Sasuke's face as he looked into the eyes of his captor, his own black eyes begging to be set free. He wasn't going to last much longer.

_I've lost too much blood; I can hardly see straight, _he licked his lips looking down at Itachi's hand that was still on his flesh, the movements becoming less and less dramatic. But they were enough to send the pulses of rapture and torture up and down his spinal column, bringing him to the edge of his tolerance.

"What are you trying to pull?" Sasuke asked as he let out a quiet moan. "Are you just going to touch me? Why me, and why this torture? Why are you bringing me to the same amount of insanity that you're at?"

There was a small silence as the wind rushed by again followed by low quiet. "You'll never be at the same level of insanity as me. You're not able to be at that level."

"_Able?_" Sasuke asked cringing at the word. "You're doing this not only to increase my potential, but yours as well? This is different, Itachi. This isn't like killing Shisui; or our clan, you can't get any stronger. You're already too strong for your own good." He shook his head. "This is inhumane, this is torture. This is real torture, and it's even barbaric for you."

Itachi looked into Sasuke's eyes. "There's still time to stop this. You know what it takes…"

Memories flooded his mind as he thought back to the days of their youth when he would follow Itachi all the way to Hell and back. He wanted to be him, but he would have killed just to have a moment alone with him without his work getting in the way. And right in those three words lay what was left of the Itachi he knew, the one that he played the role of.

Sasuke felt the hand move away from him leaving him aching for more, yet at the same time yearning for it to be all over. This was his brother; this was not the behavior that they were supposed to have toward each other.

He swallowed hard as he felt his body go numb. "_Brother…_"

"You know that's not going to work, that's not the word you need to say. Even if you dig down deep the Itachi that you knew is gone. He was a figment of your imagination, nothing but a broken dream. You know that there is no hope for you now; a younger version of me, a weaker version might have let you go now. But I'm a ninja, something you will never be," Itachi pulled the kunai that was still embedded in Sasuke's shoulder hearing him scream, his body freezing for a few moments. "Are you going to take this? Or are you going to use your last few minutes to come up with the word that I'm looking for?"

The frightening feel of the kunai was put back to his neck; this was getting to the point where he knew he wasn't going to get out of this alive. All of the training that he had been through was nothing compared to a ninja of his brother's level. Even if he could get out of the sais he couldn't do anything. He needed to find the words that Itachi was looking for.

Itachi opened his eyes wider the bloodlust filling him again. "You can't stop this. You want to know why?" he took the kunai and moved it to his jaw line, sliding it across the skin leaving a trail of blood in its wake. "Because deep in that little heart of yours, you want this, you're giving up to me, begging for me to do this to you."

"Why would I do that?" Sasuke asked as he felt the kunai move away from his face feeling the sting of the cut on his face. "Why would I give in?" he shook his head violently. "This isn't what I wanted… I never asked for you to come back."

"You wanted to kill me didn't you?" the older ninja smirked.

He had lost now; there was no way that this was going to tilt in his favor. Itachi was always winning everything while Sasuke was left to try to be just like him. He spent his whole life hiding in the shadow of his brother, and now he was there again, he was his puppet. His eyes were running out of tears as his vision became cloudier, he was losing too much blood.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed. "Let me be close to you, like you always wanted." He moved down to where his hand once was, this time his mouth encompassing his length swallowing the flesh completely into the wet heat. He skillfully swiveled his tongue electrical impulses soaring to Sasuke's brain telling him that it felt so good to have attention down there. But it was _Itachi_.

His body was trying to fight the war with his raging hormones losing as he moved into the hot dampness, wanting to be fully taking in. His brother moaned once out of surprise expecting him to be pulling away not pushing in. As a reflex he swallowed around his flesh a loud moan generating from the bliss.

"Itachi…" he breathed. "Don't do me any favors, please… just break me…"

He felt the heat leave him his brother letting out a laugh at the plea. "Is that what you think this is? You think I'm trying to break you? Why would I do that?" his lips hit Sasuke's hipbone. "I want to test your capacity, how much you can take before you lose all control of your mind."

The heat returned as Itachi continued to test him, making his body start to give up on him. His brother was experienced, arising the questions of where he got these ideas, and how long had he been planning this? Was the source of his pain during the time where he was the happiest with his life? Was it in his childhood? More water fell down his cheeks as he felt the movements up against his body, the silky wetness of Itachi's tongue killing his lucidity.

He was so close to letting go completely leaving the taste of sweet surrender in Itachi's mouth, but he was denied his climax as Itachi backed away. Seeing the look in his brother's eyes, Sasuke knew that it was just like when he was young, it was like the night when his parents died, Itachi was concocting something in that sadistic mind of his.

"Don't kill me," the young ninja begged as he shook his head, his chest tight with fear and his deprival of his peak. "Brother… I..."

Another laugh drove through all that Sasuke tried to savor; his sanity was almost all gone. And through bloody lips Sasuke heard the words. "I won't…"

Hands moved quickly, the white fabric of his pants sliding down his legs completely leaving him completely exposed. He was half naked in front of his brother who was practically imagining himself closer to him.

_No, this isn't what I wanted! Not like this, but then why did I stop fighting, and why don't I say the word that he's looking for, I know what it is: it's stop… _Sasuke looked at Itachi's face seeing the delight in his eyes. "Itachi…"

Hearing the jagged breath coming closer he felt Itachi move on top of him his body heat diminishing all of the goose bumps that were on his skin making him sigh in relief. He moved to kiss him on the lips again, the kunai moving to his neck again, sweat rolling down his forehead.

This time though, Sasuke let Itachi's tongue into his mouth swirling his own tongue around it making his older brother for once feel awkward. The moment was becoming so erotic the feeling caused legs spread further, bliss filling the air. But bliss turned into shock as Sasuke felt his brother growing hard on top of him.

"You sick bastard!" he breathed turning his head trying to pull his hand out of the sai. But as much as he moved his hand, his senses ended midway through his forearm, his wrist no longer in the picture.

"Maybe I am," he smirked. "But you have been a good little boy." He extended two fingers to the younger ninja's lips. "This will make it easier for both of us, just suck on my fingers. Your pain will be reduced… then again, you like pain…"

The taste of blood filled Sasuke's mouth as he reluctantly took the fingers in. The taste made him gag; it was his own. All of the blood being shed, what was it for? Was it a test that life had given him to ask whether he was good enough to fight Itachi? Or was it a kick to the teeth saying that he always lived a horrible life? Either way it led to one question: where were Sakura and Naruto?

He was supposed to meet them, but they were nowhere in sight. He looked everywhere for them, but it all lead down to here to see his brother. He could have been anywhere but here, and he would still have his dignity. And it was going to result in a lot more than the loss of his dignity; he feared that his virginity was on the line too.

The younger brother kept on gagging on the taste of his blood only the thought of how much easier this will be rolling around in his mind like a reel of tape. Maybe Itachi was right, maybe he wasn't ready to be a ninja.

"Something wrong, little brother?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke sighed as the fingers left his mouth fighting the urge to vomit. "Why do you care all of a sudden?"

He moved his fingers into Sasuke's mouth again. "Because we are connected, Sasuke, we always will be whether you hate me or not. You're my brother the blood that flows in my veins flows in yours as well. And blood is thicker than water." He pulled his fingers out of the wet heat. "Don't you think?"

"I just want to know: what do you want from me?" the young boy asked as he tried to hide the fact that he was drooling. "What is the point of all of this, Itachi, there's always a reason with you and it's more than to see if you or I could raise our potential."

"You want to know?" Itachi asked in a quiet voice. "I want to see you surrender, Sasuke, I've had dreams about it…"

Sasuke shivered. "D-dreams?"

"Yes," he purred as his fingers moved in between Sasuke's quivering legs. "You don't know what it was like looking at you and not being able to have you. Tonight you're giving into me, no matter how much blood we lose."

A single finger slipped inside of Sasuke making him howl in pain, he was being stretched too much and too fast. And the thought of knowing that was a finger in there was so wrong, nothing should be inside him. Then the second finger entered to join the first, a asphyxiated scream leaving the young boy's lips as he shook violently feeling the muscles starting to give out, tightening too fast.

"Relax, the more you move, the more it hurts," Itachi explained. "Take deep breaths… unless you want to get hurt"

Sasuke shook his head as the fingers spread apart opening him up more, preparing him for something larger, blunter, more out of place in his body. But the thought of the purple painted nails inside of him made his sweat glands produce more.

"I don't want to hurt you more than I have to, you aren't worth the energy…" Itachi breathed as he made Sasuke scream louder more tears running down his face. "But the question is, Sasuke, what do you want from this?"

Sasuke panted, his ribcage starting to burn. "Just… get it over with…"

Itachi's free hand moved up to Sasuke's cheek stroking it lightly trying to calm him down. "If you really think about it, you might enjoy it…"

Sasuke spat on Itachi's hand watching the thick clear liquid run down his fingers. "Don't bet your life on that one, I will never enjoy anything that you have to give me, you Goddamn pervert. And I'm not going to enjoy you having sex with me."

As Itachi's fingers rubbed up against the sensitive inside of Sasuke's body, the fingers pulled out leaving his body feeling awkward. He was so stretched open; it felt so strange knowing that his brother was planning on going inside of him. Was there anyway that he could have stopped this?

"I-Itachi…" Sasuke breathed his chest moving erratically, his breaths harsh and rushed as his legs tightened. "P-please don't do this to me… don't hurt me…"

"I won't" Itachi inquired his breath thick with lust moving closer to Sasuke kissing him on the chin, then moving to his lips to place a light kiss on them.

Sasuke closed his eyes moaning lightly into the kiss. "Why is this always about what you want…?"

"Why are you being so difficult?" Itachi asked rolling his eyes.

"Why are _you _being such an ass?" Sasuke responded as he curled his toes trying to dull the pain in the center of his brain. _I'm losing too much blood… but he's not making me lose too much to kill me…_

"It's just your virginity, Sasuke," Itachi smirked as he slow undid the clasps on his robe. _Click_. "There will be worse things in life," _click. _"And I know that you've wanted this for a while," _Click. _

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. _Click._ "Please…" his eyes were watering now._ Click. _"Please, Itachi" he begged as he looked into his brother's eyes. "Brother!"_ Click. _"Please…" he was sobbing now, his breathing unstable as his body was struggling to get free. "Please! Please Itachi! Don't do this! Don't kill me!"

Itachi opened up his robe exposing the clothes underneath. "Give up your silly dream, and maybe you can avoid that from happening. Those who have dreams go through the most pain. You know that you can condone what I did."

"I will never forgive you, and I will never forget," he took in a sharp intake of breath. "I'm an avenger, I'm going to kill you and restore _my _clan, the one that you hated. The Uchiha blood flows through my veins and it's my duty to avenge them from their enemy. You, Itachi Uchiha, deserve to die for your crimes!"

He shrugged. "In order to kill me… you have to touch me… and your hands are pinned down. Try to kill me tonight, Sasuke; it will take a miracle…" he kissed his brother on the lips lightly whispering lightly on them. "Let go… give into your desires."

Sasuke shook his head and closes his eyes screaming. "I'd rather die! I would rather die right here than ever give up my goal! You killed the ones I loved!"

Itachi laughed again as he spread Sasuke's legs, gently kissing each kneecap. "But I'm still alive, don't I matter to you?"

Sasuke shook his head violently, trying to close his legs. "No," he took a breathed after coughing. "P-please… don't…"

"I can't turn back," he positioned himself at the entrance to Sasuke's body. "It's far too late for that, Sasuke… you might start thinking that your goal will be right in your hands, I can't let you taste your victory. Nothing comes that easily, that's why I still exist in your heart."

A massive pain filled the young boy's body, worse than he had ever felt before. Through all of his ninja adventures he had never been able to conjure up such a great amount of pain. His muscles were screaming, his veins pulsing, his lungs almost exploding. He closed his eyes tightly and let out a scream so loud that everyone in the whole populace of Konoha must have heard it. "Itachi!"

The pain pulsed throughout his body showing no mercy, his brother's movements were too great feeding the dismay that was circulating through Sasuke's mind. Was it going to be over soon?

"Itachi…" Sasuke closed his eyes so tight that his consciousness was lost for a split second. "Please!" his teeth pierced his lips his blood rolling down his chin, splashing on the fair flesh of his brother's cheek.

"There is nothing that can save you now, nothing can save you," Itachi breathed. "Your only savior is to let go…"

A deep painful thrust was administered, Sasuke's voice breaking as he screamed. The thoughts of Sakura and Naruto were still fresh in his mind; there was no way that they could be together now. He wasn't right for them, he was slandered, destroyed, robbed of all dignity. Seeing green eyes watering in his mind and blue eyes filled with so much guilt powered his force that was trying to get his hands free, cutting himself on the sharp edges of the blade on the sai. He continued to howl the surging pain continued, the familiar feeling of bloodshed plaguing him. _I'm losing too much blood! _He coughed, phlegm mixing with more of the horrid red liquid, he wasn't going to make it out of this alive. _If I quit that's the only way I live, but then that means this bastard wins._

Feeling the movements speeding up into him, brushing against the sensitive skin inside of his body, Sasuke clenched his muscles tightly. He couldn't give in. The assault was going to be over soon. He couldn't let him win this easily. His body moved up against his brother's meeting his every movement. It felt so good.

"God…" Sasuke breathed as he still shook his head closing his eyes tightly. The thrusts were closer to each other going deeper into his body. His lips parted letting a low strangled sound pass through. His mind was caught in a single wet moan, his legs tightening around his brother's body.

Itachi moved to Sasuke's ear and whispered a seductive. "_Sasuke…_"

The beat of Sasuke's heart pulsed harder in his chest as he felt Itachi's breath condense on his cold skin. The convulsions that were running through his body were not ceasing, and even his brother's hand on his face to calm him down wasn't enough, he needed more.

"Itachi…" he breathed feeling his pleasure rolling closer to the edge. "Itachi!" he was hanging by a thread the power of his surrender coming closer to reality. "P-please…" his cheeks were on fire, trying to stop the internal inferno that was forming in his stomach.

"Your words and actions don't match," Itachi breathed, a moan passing his lips. "You're begging, but yet you're blushing, Sasuke. You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Don't flatter yourself, you prick" Sasuke breathed.

Itachi smirked. "Oh Sasuke," he kissed his nose lightly. "Why do you deprive yourself?"

"You fucking bastard!" Sasuke breathed, closing his eyes. _Why is he doing this to me? How much longer is it going to last? _Hecoughed. _If it's any longer I'm going to lose my mind. Why doesn't he just kill me and get it over with? Why the torture? Why is he making me second guess my decisions. He's antagonizing me…_

There was a sickening wetness forming on the ground under the shoulder where the kunai had pierced through his skin, dampening his shirt with every second that passed. _Am I… b-bleeding? I'm losing too much! _"Damn it!"

"Are you in pain?" he breathed biting at Sasuke's ear harshly. "Do you understand what dreams do to you now?"

_No… _Sasuke bit his lip harder, the blood running down his face. "I'm not going to give up. You of all people, the one who spared my life should know that by now."

"I think you will," he kissed his lips lightly hearing Sasuke hiss at the contact. "If you want to keep your pathetic life that is. Other people will try to stop you in everything that you do; this is just a long line of pain that you put yourself on. I could save you and put you out of your misery right now, but you are not worth that honor."

"Honor?" Sasuke asked feeling his brother almost stop moving.

"Some of the best have had their blood stain these hands, and I assure you, they were far better than you ever will be at the rate you're going," Itachi continued to look into his brother's eyes lightening up on the thrusts. "Though your blood has been staining these hands tonight, the same hands slew your parents. You're well on your way to being a great Uchiha."

"Itachi!" he yelled out. "I don't want to be your slave… even if you plead that you're helping me."

Itachi moved his hands to either side of Sasuke's body creating more momentum for his thrusts. Pain, the loss of blood, it was making Sasuke's body too weak to function. _I'm losing too much blood; I can't go through all of this and get out alive. Why does he hate me so? All I ever wanted was to be near him. I loved him…_

"But you don't easily give up even when someone tells you to," he smirked. "You're giving in already. You're finished now, there is no hope left for you."

"That's not true," Sasuke begged. "Just let me be…" his face was streaked with tears. "I don't want you to do this to me anymore, you've done enough! I surrender! I give up! Just let me go."

"Your fear is making you lie to me, Sasuke," he breathed kissing his nose. "You aren't giving in, your will is still too strong to tell you that you're in pain. You're too stubborn, you always were, that is your fault. You're weak…"

"Stop saying that!" Sasuke screamed as he coughed up more sputum. "I don't want this… even if I _am_ weak!"

"Then prove you're strong," Itachi snickered.

"Itachi!" Sasuke begged as his heart stopped in his chest. "Don't do this!" he took a deep breath. "I'm losing too much blood, Itachi!"

Red eyes narrowed at the sight of the blood pooling around them. "You're right, but don't you know, people will come looking for you in this precious little village of yours. They haven't turned their back on you, they haven't belittled you. Though they haven't seen the wonder that you are, they're neglecting your true power, the very power I am testing."

Sasuke sobs loudly turning away. "Itachi… you're not helping anything, you never did," his breathing was shallow.

Itachi put the kunai back to his neck making him whimper again. "Do you think that I care about my methods? If I did, why are we here? No one ever cared about you, Sasuke. Our parents hated you. Our clan hated you. Your teammates hate you. I was the only one who cared, yet you thought I was the one who hated you the greatest."

The cool metal was starting to push into Sasuke's skin, though staying stable even with the heavy thrusting. Itachi's goal was to hurt him physically, death wasn't a factor, nor was to break him mentally. Was there anyway that the fake Itachi that he once knew was still in there, shining through the façade of hate? Was he the real one underneath all of the fabricated lies that lead to that night?

"Ninjas don't do this to one another," Sasuke coughed, his skin growing paler by the second. "You should know that, you were the greatest ninja I've ever met." He continued to move up against him uncontrollably moaning as his prostate was hit, his elbows locking at his body tried to move his arms. "You were the best in our clan…"

"_You _have no idea what ninjas do to one another; _you've_ never been in that environment," he shook his head stopping completely. "You don't know the pain in a ninja's life. You don't know the torture. This is nothing compared to that."

The words swirled through Sasuke's head hitting him in the deepest part of his heart. Was Itachi referring to ANBU? What happened there that made him so bitter? The torture that he spoke of sounded horrid. The pain that he was putting Sasuke through, was that the same pain that he had gone through?

"I-Itachi?" Sasuke asked weakly looking into his brother's eyes. "W-what do you mean? What happened to you?"

Itachi loosened his grip on the kunai looking into his eyes. "Absolute hell…"

"It doesn't have to be like this? It doesn't have to be this; we could just go our own separate ways." He moved to kiss Itachi on the cheek. _No! I can't do this, I'm giving in! I can't degrade myself! This is my brother, we shouldn't be doing this!_

The movements were deeper as Itachi started again, the pulses of his length becoming more and more erotic. With every undulation, his body was going to closer off of the edge he was clinging onto. His emotions went wild, the way that Itachi moved made him want to vomit, yet the heat of his body blocking the cold made Sasuke feel safe from harm. He wasn't sure which emotion was winning the fight, but the movements were robbing him of his breath, making his heart race the fastest it has ever gone in his life. His eyes screwed shut, his lips letting out a series of sobs. He wanted it to be over. _Just surrender_.

Sasuke felt one last movement letting his pleasure free, breaking the barrier that he held so dear. There it was the white sizzle of the surrender that Itachi dreamed of, the one that he had fantasized over for years. The thick liquid of the surrender was accompanied by a half scream half moan combination, a splash of blood leaving his lips. "_Itachi_!"

"Is your life that important to you?" he moved to whisper condescendingly into Sasuke's ear. "Or deep in your heart did you always dream of that moment, the moment where we would meet up and finally become one?" He bit onto Sasuke's neck, both of them moaning at the same time as Itachi's body froze, his climax was there rolling into Sasuke's body. "_Sasuke_."

They both panted in each other's ears as Itachi left Sasuke's body quickly, the deadly chill of the night touching him again rushing into his pores. He wished that he could have kept the heat, greedily wishing for the brother that he loved for all of those years. But he was left with this empty shell.

"You're in pain," Itachi breathed as he looked at the blood covering the younger ninja. "Sasuke, looks like it took more than I thought it would. All you had to do was tell me to stop it, and I would have left you alone."

Sasuke coughed as his eyes started to close with the unbearable pain. His body was screaming at him, telling him that there was no way that he could get through this or even dream of leaving alive. His body was too weak, he was too weak. With all of the energy he had left he looked up at his brother with swollen obsidian eyes. He tried to speak, but he couldn't find him voice.

"Give up on your dream," Itachi answered shaking his head. "You felt the consequences; they only get worse after this moment."

He swallowed hard and tried to speak again finding a low raspy sound let as his voice. "N-no… you can torture me all you want," he could barely formulate the words as he tried to breathe, his voice barely audible, the cold making his body shake. "I-I won't give up on my dream, I w-won't die that easily…"

Itachi brushed his hair from his face, the few loose ebony strands falling down to his shoulders sticking to his sweaty flesh. "Have it your way then." He knelt down and tightly grabbed the handles of the sais. He pulled them harshly looking down at Sasuke's blood that still coated them and then at his shaking younger brother. "Whatever you do, remember the pain that I have given you and then see if your dream is worth it." He turned around and walked away slowly not acknowledging the sobbing boy behind him.

Sasuke moved his arms slowly looking at the dark rings of bruises and cuts the sais left him with. His stomach rumbled as he looked at all of the blood on the ground knowing that it was all from his body. The churning heat rose up his chest until it was in his mouth. He doubled over in pain and vomited with all of the shame that was plaguing him. He looked down at what was flowing out of him seeing the mix of water, acid, silt, and blood. _I'm losing too much blood! _His hands moved for his pants pulling them up to cover his shivering legs. He buttoned them back up not caring about the bloodstains that were setting in them.

"H-help…" he called out before coughing his voice getting lower with every cough. "S-somebody, anybody… h-help me." He fell onto his stomach turning his head to the side. "S-Sakura, N-Naruto, where were you guys when I needed you?" he coughed again sobbing violently. "Where w-were you?"

He looked over at the lightly moving water. "I-Itachi was right…" he coughed deep from his chest. "S-Shisui was lucky to die…" he buried his face in the ground feeling like he was seven all over again. "I-I wanted to die, why am I burdened with the v-vengeance of my clan? W-why me, Itachi, why did you choose me?"

The chills hit his body again as he wrapped his body into a ball his knees up against his chest. "H-help…" his mind was swirling through the darkness. "H-help me…" the air temperature was taking all of the feeling from his body, he was so cold. He shivered as he started to lose focus of the entire world around him.

"S-Sakura, N-Naruto, help me…" his chest was tight as the chills took his consciousness away from him, his body went limp in the cold as he was still curled in a ball, hugging his knees tightly. "H-help…"

The cold air blew up against his body making him colder and colder. His teammates never came for him. The moon remained high in the sky illuminating onto the lightly moving water filling his body with eerie chills. The chills that made his body almost stop functioning as the blood kept on pouring from his body.

Coming here was a mistake.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Please give feedback, honesty is always good. Thanks for putting up with how long it was, I know that it was kind of long. So what did you all think? Good? Bad?

There is more to this story, the next chapter Sakura and Naruto are going to find Sasuke.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own any of the charecters, Masashi Kishimoto does and will always own the right.

**Warnings:** This story contains mentions of rape, language, blood and violence, contrversial view on death, OOC, and it has nothing to do with canon (still will see later on in the story more so in the story). There might also be come errors in this chapter that I didn't pick up. This is also long, not as long as the last chapter, but it's not a quick read, sorry for that.

**Pairings: **This chapter contains references to ItaSasu and some SasuSaku. SasuNaru if you squint.

* * *

The thoughts were swirling, crimson flashes, strangled cries, the horrific sounds of coughing. They flew behind closed eyes, the voice breaking as it continued crying out until it was a dull sound. _"H-help me…"_

Green eyes opened quickly, the adrenaline from the dream still flowing through her body. Were the visions real or was her mind playing a trick on her? There were so many real aspects of the dream, she could feel the blood rolling down the pale skin, hear the shallow breaths. But there was only one thing that she could make out, the voice.

"Sasuke," she breathed looking out the window seeing the leaves roll throughout the wind. She shook her head; it was a dream, nothing more than just a dream of a close friend. She had many dreams where he was calling out to her, trying to get a hold on her, but when she confronted him about them he just scoffed brushing it off as nothing. This was real; she could feel his pain running through her nerves.

She got out of bed looking out the window closer. _He had to have been able to figure out that we weren't going to show up. I feel really bad standing him up but when I couldn't get a hold of Naruto… _she closed her eyes. "It was just a dream." She slowly put one foot in front of the other walking toward the door. "There's nothing to fear, Sasuke's going to be alright. Nothing happened to him…"

_H-help me! _She closed her eyes tightly thinking about him like that, seeing him bleed that much could make anyone start to go insane. There was no way, someone like Sasuke wouldn't fall before anyone, he was too good for that, but it seemed so realistic.

"Sasuke…" she breathed looking around the room. _I can hear him even though I'm awake, he needs help. No! Nothing is going on with Sasuke; I won't let anyone take him away from me. We're going to be together forever, nothing is going to tear us apart. _She opened the door to her bedroom and walked down the stairs. A knock was upon the door. "Sasuke?"

She continued to move toward the door opening it slowly, it wasn't Sasuke, instead of a set of onyx eyes, it was the same warm blue eyes that she had seen last night. Only they weren't so warm right now, they looked worried, distressed, it was obvious as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Sakura," he started his voice flat, "have you seen Sasuke?"

She looked into his eyes seeing the worry. "You haven't?"

He shook his head taking a step forward. "No one has. I've been around the village asking for him, but everyone has given me the same answer. They saw him last night, but since then he's been gone." He shook his head. "Do you think he ran away?"

"Why would Sasuke run away?" she asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, but there is something going on here. It's not like Sasuke to run off like that, especially not on such a cold night." He shivered. "I don't want to think the worst, but he could be anywhere…"

"Have you looked for him?" she asked walking out the door. "You said he could be anywhere and the wind is starting to pick up, he could be hurt."

Naruto shook his head. "Knowing that bastard he's out playing a trick on us. He's waiting to see us get worried so he can make fun of us for it. He thinks he's so cool, it's annoying."

Sakura scoffed as she closed the door behind her. "_You're_ annoying, Naruto."

He rolled his blue eyes as he followed her down the street. The wind was picking up; the cold was starting to chill his skin. If Sasuke was out all night, he wasn't going to be in good shape, it was going to be harsh.

"Do you think that he's alright?" Naruto asked.

Sakura looked at him still walking. "I hope so, but I had a dream last night. I heard him speaking out to me, screaming for help, but the voice wasn't his, it was eerie, quiet. He could hardly speak Naruto," her eyes wandered to the river in the distance. "I swear that I heard him crying out last night, it was so scary, I…"

She stopped right where she stood looking over to the river's edge seeing a small object curled next to the harshly moving water. Her breath caught in her chest, there was no way that could be… no, it couldn't be. Why would he… why would this be… why would she even think that?

"Sakura?" Naruto asked looking back at her seeing her green eyes look aimlessly off to the distance. "What's wrong?"

She kept looking down. "S-Sasuke?"

He gasped as he looked at the river's edge seeing the same thing, a body wrapped up in a ball, and worst of all on its back was the Uchiha crest. _No it has to be a fluke, there's no way!_

The two ran side by side not acknowledging each other both praying to God that it wasn't him on the shore, praying that it was an elaborate illusion from their overactive imagination. Their breath was catching in their throats as they kept on running toward the body. Sakura's eyes were watering with every step she took.

"Please God…" she whispered as she slipped on the ground falling to her knees. She quickly got up and moved closer to the body stopping right when she got to its side. It was like her nightmare, only worse, this was real. There in a puddle of blood lay the unconscious body of their teammate.

Sakura's body fell to her knees right next to him; she had to blink twice before she could really take in that it was him. Blood was running from his mouth, his ebony hair wet, sticking to his face contrasting his whitening skin. She moved her shaking hand slowly to stroke his cool moist hair feeling his ice cold flesh. How could this happen?

"S-Sasuke?" she whimpered her hand up against his face, shivering from the cold. "Sasuke!" she moved to his shoulder rolling him onto his back seeing the deep wound on his shoulder as well as on his neck. "Sasuke!" she shook him lightly. "Sasuke!"

Naruto walked up to her side hearing her start to cry, tears falling from get light green eyes. Her body shook as she buried her face in Sasuke's idle chest, no breath escaping his lips.

"He's so cold, Naruto," she whimpered in his chest. "He's so cold…"

Naruto felt his own eyes start to water as he watched her sob on his fallen comrade. He looked like he had come out of a dark poem; his skin was ghostly white, his eyes half open, his obsidian irises still shining through. His eyes were so cold, so dead; the eyes that were filled with so much ambition now were nothing. Taking a step closer he looked at his body seeing in between his legs being coated with red and bruises around his wrists.

"Damn it," Naruto breathed. _Look at this, there's no way that an attacker would pin him down and then bruise in between his legs. Does that mean? _"S-Sasuke…?" he closed his eyes. "Who did this to you?"

Sakura looked up at Sasuke's face, stroking it lightly as she looked at Naruto. "What happened to him, Naruto? What happened to him?!"

"Look at the clues, Sakura," he answered shaking his head. "I don't want to hide it from you anymore." He knelt next to her putting a hand in between his thighs moving them apart, covering his hand with blood. "He's bleeding heavily down there isn't he?" he looked into her eyes. "I think that the culprit took something more than Sasuke was willing to give."

"You mean…?" she asked looking at him. "No… I-I don't want to believe it. Who would do that to him? They would never…"

"He was an easy target," he took hold of Sasuke's wrist looking into her eyes. "He was pinned down Sakura; these marks were from a weapon, and the whole time he was screaming for help, he must have been out here for hours." He touched his face. "He's almost gone."

She placed her fingers along his pulse point. "He still has a pulse…" she looked at Naruto. "Do you think we can move him?" he looked at her, staring blankly. "Do you think that we should?" Her body was shaking, her voice weak with the pain of seeing her fallen comrade. "Naruto, I don't know what to do…"

Naruto looked down at Sasuke. "H-h-help…" he breathed finding his voice. "Help!"

Sakura looked up toward the town. "Help! Anybody!" she closed her eyes shaking her head, her face going back to Sasuke's chest. "Naruto," she breathed. "Get Kakashi… go get help."

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Are you going to take care of him?"

"I will," she answered as she looked up into Naruto's eyes. "Just go while he's still with us." She lifted him slightly off of the ground. "I'll try to keep him warm." She held him close to her chest. "He's so cold, Naruto. So cold…"

The blond looked at Sakura seeing the pain on her face as she held Sasuke's unconscious body. He was slowly dying in her arms, his heart slowing with every moment as he bled onto her. The signs of his breathing weren't there, his chest not moving at all. It was hard to believe that he was still alive.

Naruto stood up and started to walk away. "I promise that I'll get help. Just keep him with you…"

She watched Naruto walk away up to the village above. She felt a tremor go through Sasuke's body and a cough. Was he coming to? Or was it just some last minute nerves? The cough was followed by gagging noises, he was choking on his own blood.

"Sasuke," she breathed feeling his chest tighten against hers. "Sasuke!" she closed her eyes trying to block the thoughts of him dying out of her mind. She stroked his back pushing her against him harder. "Come on, Sasuke, breathe."

He continued to choke, trying to cough, he was attempting to breathe. She moved him closer to him as she turned him around his back to her chest. "Don't die." She begged as she wrapped her arms around him feeling his chest tighten. She pushed once hearing him gag again. "Breathe!" she pushed again. "Breathe, Sasuke…" _gag_. "Breathe." _Gag_. "Come on…"

She could feel his chest start to move, he was still trying to breathe his weight falling forward. And then he coughed once an enormous splash of blood falling from his lips onto the ground in front of him. He coughed again as more blood fell.

"Sasuke?" she asked as she looked at the blood. "You're bleeding." She pulled him closer to her hearing a few shallow breaths, his body shivering from the cold. She pulled him closer feeling his breathing starting to grow quiet. "Stay with me…"

She felt his body grow limp in her arms the warmth form her body growing as cold as his own cold skin. He was gently breathing in her ear making her body roil with a warm blush. He was that close to her, leaning up against her, breathing on her. But it didn't make her loosen her grip; she was all that he had to rest on. Her hands moved to his back as she put him back on the ground resting on his chest.

"Hurry up, Naruto…"

-----

He ran through the streets looking everywhere that he thought that Kakashi would be, his heart racing in his chest. He never told Sakura what happened to Sasuke, he had only given her the clues. But it was obvious; the blood in between his legs, the marks on his wrists, there was more than just an attack. They stole something more precious than his life; if he did survive he was never going to be the same. They brutally stole his virginity; they raped him and then left him to die slowly.

There was something about the wind; it should have been a clue that something was wrong last night. He thought he heard screaming as he walked from Sakura's house back to his place, but he didn't do anything, what was he supposed to do?

_If I knew it was Sasuke… I would have killed that man. I would have killed that bastard who took him away from us. _He could barely breathe as he ran to the Hokage's office hoping that Kakashi was there, hoping that it was more than just a futile attempt. Then as the wind stopped for a second he saw Kakashi walk out with Asuma, Kurenai and Gai by his side.

"Sensei!" Naruto screamed running toward Kakashi. "Sensei!"

Kakashi turned to him. "Naruto? What is it? You shouldn't be out here, you'll catch a cold."

Naruto shook his head as he tried to catch his breath. "This isn't about me…" he looked up the words caught in his throat. "It's about Sasuke…"

"What about Sasuke?"

"We found him by the river, Kakashi-sensei, he's been out there all night," Naruto started looking away. "He's lost a lot of blood." Not sure if he was getting their attention he was now going to say what he was hiding from Sakura. "We think he was raped…"

Kakashi stood still, his eye widening in shock, the cigarette dropping out of Asuma's mouth, Gai let out a low "_damn_", and Kurenai gasped. Naruto looked at them with determined eyes telling them that this was more important than they will ever know. Kakashi stepped forward and looked into Naruto's eyes.

"Did you leave him alone?" he asked his voice heavy, he was getting serious.

"Sakura's with him, I came to get you," the young boy shook his head. "I don't know what we should do, we don't want to move him, but he needs medical attention." He walked forward. "Can't you guys do anything?"

Kakashi nodded. "We can, where is he?"

Naruto turned around. "Follow me…"

He started to run, the jounin running behind him, all that he could think about was the way that Sasuke looked right now, bleeding, dying. He had to get there fast to save Sakura from all of that torture. They were only kids; they weren't supposed to go through all of this. But one thought rolled through his mind, who would do such a thing to him? What kind of bastard would brutalize him so harshly?

The thought of somebody doing that to someone on his own team and knowing that he wasn't there with him that night made tears come to his eyes, what was he doing last night? If those eyes never opened again, what would happen? Would he be able to bury his best friend knowing that he did nothing to stop him? Would he be able to live with himself going by Sasuke's grave?

_Where was I when he needed me?_ He asked as he kept on running ignoring the burning in his lungs. Sasuke's life was at stake. Every second, every footstep, Sasuke's body was starting to give out on him. So he had to go faster, not take any breaks, it would only take a single moment to lose him forever.

The rush of the river blowing in the wind was still in his ear as he looked over to see Sakura holding Sasuke's body close. She was crying, he knew that. Was he too late? Did he take to long to get to her?

_No! _He ran down to the river's edge. _Sasuke! _He moved closer to Sakura breathing heavily, the jounin still behind him. "Sakura!"

She turned to him, her eyes streaked with tears. "Naruto…" she closed her eyes. "He's so cold…"

He looked at Sasuke, his appearance had gotten worse, his lips were covered with blood, purple and frozen, his skin sickeningly white. He looked like he was gone, all traces of life gone from his body. It couldn't end like this. They couldn't give up hope.

"Is he…?" Naruto asked.

"No," she answered. "But he's rapidly losing body heat."

Kakashi walked closer as the other jounin looked in shock. He moved to Sasuke's side looking down at him. Naruto couldn't look at his glance knowing what he was thinking, what everyone else was thinking: where were they last night?

"I'm sorry, sensei," Sakura sobbed. "I'm sorry, we let you down. You taught us about teamwork and we weren't there for him. We let this happen." She closed her eyes. "I could have been here for him."

Kakashi turned his head away closing his eye. "I don't want you to think that you did anything wrong. There was nothing you could have done even if you were here." He looked at Sasuke. "He wouldn't have let you save him anyway, he's too arrogant for that." He crouched down holding Sasuke's hand. "He doesn't have much time left judging by the color of his lips. He's going to need too much blood, there's nothing that we can do."

"We have to try!" Naruto breathed. "We can't leave him life this, we have to save him!" he shook his head. "I'm not going to leave him, I am not going to let him die here." He looked into Kakashi's eye. "Come on, Kakashi, let's at least try."

They lifted Sasuke off of the ground and started to walk away slowly Sakura still sitting on the ground looking at the puddles of blood crying. There had to be more than this, this wasn't going to be the end of their time together he was going to live through all of the hate and detest.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked as he reached his hand out to take hers. "It's going to be alright. He's going to get through this. Like you said, Sasuke is too strong for it to all end like this and his pain was a very minor setback." He looked at her his eyes showing a dark sensation unknown to those blue eyes. "You know what happened right."

She looked at him his cold eyes burning at her. "Naruto…"

"He was raped…" he answered shaking his head. "He was held down and he was raped. I know that inside his head right now he's going insane. He lost more than half off his blood, he lost his dignity. Sakura, he's not a virgin anymore and he had to feel some bastard pound into him over and over again."

She shook her head. "I don't want to believe it."

"But he needs us now more than ever," he answered. "Sakura, he needs us to be there for him, since we weren't there to stop it… we were weak, but now we have to show that it will never happen again. I swear on my life no one will ever hurt him like that again."

Sakura started to walk away. "Naruto, there's more to this than just making empty promises. He's always going to be in pain."

"But never again," he answered his voice breaking. "I'm not going to allow them to use my friends anymore. Whoever this guy is, he's done!" he walked closer. "I want you to know that no one is going to hurt him. I will die for his safety."

"Naruto," she sighed.

"I can't believe I wasn't there," he whimpered looking over at the river.

"It wasn't your fault," she consoled placing a hand on his shoulder.

He shook his head. "I heard him screaming last night; I didn't know it was him so I kept on going. I could have stopped it from happening, but it was so dark, so cold. I wasn't able to see what was going on." He closed his eyes. "If I had known… I… I would have been there for him. He wouldn't be in this much pain."

She closed her eyes. "You couldn't have done anything…"

"I could have tried," he looked away from her. "I could have helped him get through all of this. I could have saved him, I was just too stupid." He looked at the jounin who were moving with the body. "Why couldn't it have been me?"

She watched as he walked by her. "Naruto…"

"I should have done something," he repeated. "I should have helped him, even if it was just me walking home with him." He started to walk away. "Come on, we have to go see if he'll be alright."

"Naruto," she breathed. "Sasuke's going to be okay…"

He walked ahead of her. "He better be…"

She looked down at the blood hearing the screams that she must have heard last night. _"Help me!" _she closed her eyes hearing more screams imagining the blood as his eyes looked closed lightly. _"Where were you when I needed you?"_ She looked up at Naruto as the words repeated in her head. _"S-Sakura, N-Naruto, where were you guys, when I needed you?"_

_Where were we? _She asked as she ran after Naruto. _Where were you when you needed us, Sasuke? Not only Naruto feels the guilt, I won't let anyone hurt you either. You will never be in that much pain again._

They slowly walked side by side, silently the whole way to the hospital as if a walk of utter shame. How could they have done this to him?

"_S-Sakura, N-Naruto, where were you guys, when I needed you?"_

-----

The hospital doors broke open as they group of jounin came in Sasuke in hand. His body was limp, ice cold, lifeless. Chills filled the room as the receptionist looked up to see the bloody boy. Dead silence, nothing but the sound of Sasuke's quiet breaths filling the room.

"We have an emergency," Kakashi announced.

"What happened?" the receptionist asked looking at Sasuke's body. Her own body was shaking as she closed her eyes trying to block out the images of the blood. "How long was he out there?"

Kakashi held Sasuke tighter. "He was raped," he took a breath. "The last time that anyone ever remembered seeing him was last night at eleven. That was twelve hours ago." Sasuke coughed lightly, blood spilling onto his vest. "He's in critical condition, losing blood by the second."

The receptionist picked up the phone calling for a team of doctors. "We have a twelve-year-old boy, bleeding to death, unconscious."

Naruto and Sakura walked into the building watching a team of doctors run into the room with a gurney. They took Sasuke gently putting him onto the cot inspecting him for signs of life. Tears rolled from green eyes as she watched them feel for his pulse, stethoscopes to his chest.

"Sasuke…" she breathed.

"Heart rate below normal," one called out as they pulled the stethoscope from their ears. "Slight irregularities in the rhythm."

"Breathing is harsh and shallow."

"Body temperature is at eighty-nine degrees and dropping."

Sakura continued to cry as she heard them talking about Sasuke's physical condition. "It's all my fault." She whispered. "I did this to him. I should have been there." Holding Naruto close she buried her face in his shoulder.

They wheeled him out of the room Sakura's tears falling harder than they had before; the pain was too much for either of them could bear. Naruto stroked her back lightly trying to calm her down. The chills from the outside air rolling to chill their skin, was he going to make it? His heart, his lungs, his blood, all of it was giving out on him. There was little to be done, he was already half dead.

"You two should go home," Kakashi turned to them.

Naruto shook his head. "We're not leaving Sasuke." He looked at the doors. "I left him once; I'm not going to leave him now. We're a team, sensei, and I'm not going to let myself sit in my bed at home while he's in there fighting for his life." He closed his eyes. "There's nothing we can do to help him. If I could I would give him every drop of my blood to save his life. Just to hear his voice again."

Sakura lifted herself from his shoulder. "It's not your fault."

The blond looked at the jounin. "Until I can see those eyes open and hear him breathe again I won't let myself leave this hospital, there is no way that I'm going now." He sat down. "I'll stay here all night if I have to."

Sakura sat next to him. "I'll stay with you, Naruto."

"We weren't there when he needed us, now we're going to be here," Naruto answered. "And you're not going to make us leave. The only way that we're getting out of here is if you drag us out. You can't move us."

Kakashi looked at the other jounin and then at them. "Don't blame yourselves."

Sakura bowed her head. "Then what caused it?"

They could hear yelling down the hall, demands to get blood, oxygen, IVs, EKGs. With every request they knew that Sasuke was slowly drifting from them. He was freezing to death, getting colder with every second that passed. The ticking of the second hand was painful; every tick was being so merciless. If they could turn back the clock, if only they could.

"Let them stay, Kakashi," Asuma said. "You know what it's like to lose a team member, someone that you cared about. Do you think that they're ready for that?"

Kakashi was silent as he turned around. "You two can stay as long as you like, just don't get into too much trouble." He looked at them. "When Sasuke wakes up tell him I'm sorry for not being there for him." He bowed his head. "But when he does wake up, I don't want you to be too hard on him, nor do I want you to be too soft. He's going through a difficult time, he almost died. Just take his feelings into consideration."

Naruto looked at his teacher. "But will he be that same?"

"I… I don't know," Kakashi answered noticing blue eyes widen in shock. "Time will tell us."

Naruto looked at the clock; it had already been six minutes since they took him away. How much longer was it going to take? How long were they going to be out here thinking about this waiting for some action to happen? More mutterings could be heard down the hall, as they continued to work on him. It wasn't looking too good.

Kakashi walked out the door, the other jounin following him slowly as they looked back at the two kids noticing their sorrow mixed with hate for the moment. They were becoming adults, growing up too fast for their own good.

"Naruto," Sakura whispered. "Where do you think that Sasuke is going to go when it's over? What's on the other side?"

"Have you given up hope?"

She closed her eyes. "His heart is barely beating and his temperature is dropping," she looked at him. "I just want to know… if we do lose him… where does he go? Is there only more suffering for him?"

Naruto looked out the window. "Wherever he goes, he'll be free from all of this pain." He closed his eyes. "He won't have to suffer anymore. But…" he looked at her his eye opening the blue irises sending chills down her spine. "… I'm not going to let him leave me like that. He won't have to be in pain in this world either. I won't watch those eyes well up with tears anymore, I won't watch him lose anymore blood in vain." His voice was weakening. "I won't let his loss be in vain."

Sakura closed her eyes. "He's going to be alright?"

-----

"Heart rate still below normal," a doctor stated as they watched the IV full of blood drip, the red liquid falling through the tube going into the young boy's arm. "Try to get him in stable condition."

They moved their hands to his chest pushing against it, circulating the blood through his body. Warmth was starting to fill his veins, his breathing becoming shallower. _Remember the pain; see if your dream is worth it. _He could hear the voices, feel their hands up against his chest, but the blinding light was before his eyes.

"We're losing him," another voice called out.

He could feel the pain returning to his neck at the laceration, remembering those horrid teeth piercing his flesh. But in the center of his body, he could feel the same pain that he felt before, his heart was starting to stop. The light was getting closer and he was moving toward it, not being able to draw back from its grace, but with every pump that they to make his heart start again, he felt himself get farther.

It was making him go insane, wanting to scream, but he couldn't find his voice. All he could see was as the light turned into a darkness engulfing him pulling him away, deeper into the depths of absolute emptiness. _No. _He reached out to grab anything that he could, trying not to get lost in all of this. He could feel his lungs swell with pain as he felt the darkness pull him to the bottom of the pit.

"He's in cardiac arrest!"

His eyes closed as he was trapped in the whirling darkness, the bright violet light in front of him, an arm's length away from where he sat. Reaching for the light he could feel the tightening in his chest. _I am dead? Did Itachi… kill me? _He touched the light. _No, he couldn't have… why Itachi? _The light surrounded his hand pulling at him. _I don't want to die… Sakura… Naruto. I can't die, I promised myself… I wouldn't die until I killed him, until I killed Itachi. I don't want to go. Please!_

A surge of electricity filled the realm making his whole body shake. Were they trying to bring him back? But would he want to go back, knowing that he finally surrendered to his brother? Wasn't that what he feared from the start? But seeing green eyes looking at him made him want to give into the electricity surging through him, the tears were piercing through his heart.

"Clear!"

He felt it again, his body shaking, the darkness starting to evaporate. _Where am I going? _The force pulled him away from the violet into a bright white light. _Am I going back? But how? Why? Where was I to begin with?_

He coughed, blood spilling from his lips muttering one word: "S-S-Sakura…" he could barely feel himself talk as he struggled to open his eyes still not finding the strength. _One step at a time, Sasuke._

"He's stable. Temperature's up to ninety."

He tried to open his eyes. "S-Sakura…" his voice was light and scratchy, every word was painful. There were needles in his arm bandages around his neck and shoulder, the cut on his face still stinging lightly. Onyx eyes opened slightly looking around the room. Where was he? How did he get here?

"Hook him up to the EKG and get an oxygen tank."

His body shook, shivering lightly, the air was cold as he thought about what was going on in his head. Purple light, white light, darkness, what did it all mean? And why did the electricity pull him into the white light. _I thought that white light meant the afterlife? _Wires were hooked up to his chest as they didn't notice that he gained almost complete consciousness. "S-Sakura."

"Who's Sakura?" a doctor asked observing Sasuke's moving hand.

"S-Sakura…" he heard himself say again. _I swear I saw her in the darkness. What does it mean? And why was I even there? Is Itachi really trying to kill me? _Hands reached to take his as they covered him with a blanket trying to keep him warm. _Are they here with me? Or am I just imagining things?_

He closed his eyes trying giving in to the fatigue of being pulled across the barrier. "S-S-Sakura…" he could still feel the darkness trying to pull him back the flashes of white and violet behind his eye lids. Then there they were again: red eyes. The purple light came closer to him as he tried to open his eyes coughing at the thought of the darkness taking hold of him.

Footsteps left the room, a doctor leaving. What was the problem? Was there something wrong with him? The room filled with a harmonic beeping, measuring the every beat of his heart. It was slow, almost too relaxed, his chest burning with every breath. How did he get here?

"_Have it your way then. Whatever you do, fool, remember the pain that I have given you and then see if your dream is worth it." _It was worth it, he was still breathing, he was still alive. Even if he knew now that he lost something that could never be replaced. It was a fair price, his penance for being so weak. It still hurt though…

"S-Sakura?" he felt a shiver roll through his body, another blanket being put over his body as they adjust the pillow beneath his head. Tubes were straightened out from his arm connecting to three IVs, one filled with the blood that was now going to keep his body warm. His body was slowly starting to give out on him; every muscle was in incredible pain. How much longer was this going to last?

_Where are they?_

-----

"How much longer will it be?" Sakura asked as she rested on Naruto's shoulder trying not to go to sleep. "It's four, five hours since we've been here and there is still no sign of a doctor."

"I guess that rules out bad news," Naruto answered as he looked at the doorway.

She sighed. "Just because you heard it doesn't make you the enemy, he'll understand, Naruto." There was a silence. "He's probably not going to want to talk about it with you anyway. He knows that you won't understand."

He closed his eyes. "I understand, he feels worthless right now, he feels that there's no reason for him to live anymore. Everything that makes him what he was is stripped away and our peers aren't going to look at him the same." He closed his eyes tighter. "He'll be the kid who lost his virginity too soon."

Sakura looked down. "What do you think?"

"He's still Sasuke!" he answered his voice thick with anger. "I will always think of him as Sasuke, no matter what the case. He's not dead, and he's not going to die. I won't let him."

The doors opened as a doctor walked up to them looking right at them. "Are you Sakura?" they looked right at Sakura as she nodded. "Come with me."

She looked confused. "Why? What's wrong?"

The doctor smiled. "Sasuke Uchiha is asking for you. He keeps saying your name, asking where you are. We think we should bring you in there."

Sakura looked back at Naruto as she ran a bloody hand through her hair. He nodded telling her to go to Sasuke, he needed her right now. She took the first step thinking about what she was going to tell him when she got in there? Was it wise to bring up the rape? Or should she wait to see if he wanted to talk about it? He was probably just trying to see if he was still alive.

Then she was outside the door looking inside to see his body lying on the bed, the beeping of the EKG sending chills down her spine. "Sasuke?" the door opened as she walked in going to his side. He looked better, his skin was starting to gain back some of his color, the purple color of his lips disappearing as well. Bandages covered his body where the most bleeding occurred, his left arm put into a sling from the muscle damage of the kunai wound.

Black eyes looked over at her as he took a deep breath. "S-Sakura?" he swallowed hard wincing in pain. "You're h-here…"

His voice, it wasn't his, not in the least bit. It was so weak, so quiet, his words barely being able to be formulated. The usual one was gone replaced with a fragile weary one. "Sasuke? What happened to your voice? It's hoarse," she sat in the chair next to his bed.

He closed his eyes. "I-I guess I was screaming too l-loud." He reached out to take her hand. "S-Sakura… about last night…"

She closed her eyes. "You don't have to tell me what happened."

He coughed once sending an irregular rhythm in his heart monitor. "Last night… I-I was looking for you, but I got sidetracked." Tears formed in her eyes. _Does she know? Does she know what Itachi did to me?_

"Sasuke," she cried holding his and tighter. "I'm so sorry about all of this. What happened to you last night should have never happened." She ran her other hand along his face. "I still think highly of you?"

"It was nothing, I'm alive, so it wasn't that severe," he winced trying to raise his voice, coughing again as he squeezed her hand tightly. "S-Sakura… I don't think less of myself." He took a deep hollow breath. "I-I'm lucky to be breathing."

She smiled as she placed her hand on his forehead. "You're starting to get warm again."

"T-there smothering me with all of this d-damn heat," he smiled. "Every time I shiver they bring another blanket." He took another breath. "It's like I-I'm critical."

"You _are_ critical; you were barely breathing when they brought you in here."

"T-there was more than that a few moments ago," he breathed again squeezing her hand. "I think I died for a moment."

"What?" she asked her eyes tearing up again.

"Three lights: white, purple, and black. T-there was a struggle between all of them; t-they were all trying to do me in," a cough. "But as you can see the white light won."

"I thought that white light meant death," Sakura whimpered. "You're alive."

"I know death, I saw death. It's p-purple," he answered as he loosened his grip on her hand. "And I'm sure you're thrilled."

She looked into his eyes. "I want to know who did this to you."

His eyes closed for a second. "I don't remember…"

"You don't remember?" she asked sorrowfully

He shook his head. "Nope."

She lifted his hand up and kissed it lightly. "Sasuke, I know that you're blocking it out, trying to tell yourself that it didn't happen. But your torn up inside, there's no blocking out the unbearable pain that your in." she placed her other hand on top. "You have bandages on your neck and shoulder, your arm is in a sling. What more proof do you want that you're in pain?"

"I'm not in pain!" he coughed again. "I don't know what true pain is…"

"Sasuke," she whimpered.

"I d-don't even know what it means to be a ninja," he continued.

Her eyes widened. "What happened to you?" she asked as she shook her head. "This isn't the Sasuke that I know." His hand touched her face lightly. "I know that all of the words that you mean aren't the real words that come from your heart." She held her hand up against his. "Who the hell told you such lies?"

"_You have no idea what ninjas do to one another; you've never been in that environment." _He let out a wince of pain as he closed his eyes. "S-Sakura… I-I don't want to talk about last night." He opened his eyes back up, the black irises showing all of the pain that was in his body. They weren't his eyes, those weren't Sasuke's eyes.

She smiled weakly. "You must be tired; you've been battling with this for so long." There was a small silence as a tear ran down her face. "I'm so sorry about not being there for you, Sasuke, I should have been there."

"_You're right, but don't you know, people will come looking for you in this precious little village of yours. They haven't turned their back on you, they haven't belittled you."_

"I-it's fine, I-I knew that someone would come eventually," he looked away.

She sniffled as she fought the tears. "I held your body as you were dying, Sasuke." His hand dropped. "I don't want you to die emotionally on me too. I just need you to show me that you're alright. I don't know the pain that you went through but I know that even after it happens you can't think less of yourself. You can't start giving up now."

"It's more than just the pain," he answered his voice clear for once. "It's the fact that I couldn't do anything to stop it. No matter how much I degraded myself and begged, I couldn't stop it." He coughed. "I-I told you I didn't want to talk about it. Please, just keep quiet about my pain."

She closed her eyes. "You don't have to act tough anymore, if you want, you can cry in front of me." He gasped at the remark. "I won't think any less of you if you cry. I know that ninjas don't cry, let alone boys. But you won't let your feelings out, and I know that you weren't always like this."

There was something soothing about her voice as she continued to talk to him. "Sakura…" he closed his eyes trying not to give into her request. "D-do you really want to see me break down? See me lose all control of my emotions in front of you. I-I'm not supposed to show my emotion. I'm an avenger…"

Sakura closed her eyes one tear falling. "When are you going to give up on that dream?"

"The day when that bastard wins," he coughed. "And the only way that's going to happen is if I die first. And I'm not going to die as easily as he wants me to, I can guarantee that."

"Sasuke." She whimpered.

He smiled a weak smile as he reached out for her hand, pulling it close to his chest. "Don't worry about me, Sakura, that's only going to make you depressed. I didn't intend to do that to you." he took a deep breath as he moved to kiss her forearm. "Thank you for trying not to treat me any differently. You told me what I needed to hear."

His heart was beating through her body, every beep from the EKG matching the rhythm. Their bodies were connecting as one, her heart feeling itself slow down to match his. It was a dream come true. Never did she think that their bodies working as one unit getting closer to one another.

"Sakura," he breathed lightly as he looked into her eyes. "W-where's Naruto?"

"He isn't here," she answered remembering what he said to her earlier. _"I heard him screaming last night; I didn't know it was him so I kept on going. I could have stopped it from happening, but it was so dark, so cold. I wasn't able to see what was going on. If I had known… I… I would have been there for him. He wouldn't be in this much pain."_

"W-what do you m-mean?" he asked.

"He isn't here, he went home," she closed her eyes. "He was so sick when he left; he had never seen that much blood before. Especially that much of your blood, he's going to come around soon."

Sasuke looked away. _When I have the same eyes as you, that's what you said all of those years ago. Why? Why do I have to be just like you to even think about beating you? Kill my best friend? Kill Naruto? I'm not going to do that. I'll get back at you on my own accord._

He tried to move feeling a pain run up his legs to the small of his back. It was definitely real enough. The pain that he was going through last night was still there and if this was the reduction of the pain, then what was the real pain like? He let out a squeal as he felt the torn flesh pulse once in pain.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He took a deep breath. "Bruises."

Her eyes widened. "Was it that bad?"

There was a small silence as he let out a small laugh. "Come on, Sakura, do you expect me to be alright?"

She watched as he turned his head to the side. "You really are tired aren't you?"

"Coming back from the dead isn't easy," he answered still holding her hand. "Y-you can stay for a while if you like. I could u-use the c-company. It gets so lonely in a hospital room just listening to the beating of your own heart."

She watched as his eyes closed, he fell in a state of slumber right beside her, a doctor coming to his side to put on the oxygen mask and then smiling at her nicely. They must have not minded having a few guests at his side. But the doctor left shortly after turning on the oxygen and checking the needles in his arm, but in his mind there must have been an inner turmoil that he was refusing to tell them.

"_Whatever you do, remember the pain that I have given you and then see if your dream is worth it." _

He took a deep of breath as he finally fell asleep, but through the relaxing haze of his slumber he could still hear laughing with the sight that was set in his soul forever: red eyes.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter was also long, but then again, all of the chapters will be long. I'm sorry if that upsets you. But besides that, what did you all think about this chapter? It wasn't as juicy as the first one (there was no Itachi) but tell me what you think. Was it good? Was it bad? Did it make you upset? Honesty is still my policy on reviews.

Next chapter will go into more depth on Team 7's feelings about what happened, and Itachi is going to come back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Naruto or any of the charecters involved.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains launguage (a lot of the f-bomb), it also contains references to rape, sexual content, incest, yaoi, OOC, and still the canon isn't exactly a main factor to the story. This is also longer than the first two chapters, so please try to bear with me on this. There are also a lot of errors in this chapter that I probably didn't pick up... but you know the drill by now.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, some SasuSaku (beware Sakura haters), Some SasuNaru, and Traces of KakaIta (Kakashi/Itachi)

* * *

"_Whatever you do, fool, remember the pain that I have given you and then see if your dream is worth it."_ The words still went through his body, every word accenting with a pain in his chest. How did he get there that night? What caused him to even think about going alone? And now as his punishment he was laying in a hospital bed hooked up to tubes and an EKG. 

_It's been a week, _he thought as he moved his leg. _But it still hurts, like it was yesterday. Have I really been here for that long? I must have been sleeping the whole time. _The door opened as he looked over taking deep breaths from his oxygen mask. It was Sakura, she was back.

Sakura had been there everyday since he woke up, even when he was too tired to speak to her. She would just smile and hope that he felt better. Her eyes never looked at him in a condescending way; it was like what happened to him didn't matter to her at all. He was the same to her. _I wish that I could be the same person that I was before. I just don't see that happening anymore. He's too strong for me._

"I see that you're awake," she smiled noticing the oxygen mask. "They said I could come in here. You don't have to say anything, breathing is more important." She sat next to him watching his eyes wander toward her. "You look really good today, Sasuke."

He took a deep breath closing his eyes for a second, he wanted to talk to her, he enjoyed talking to her. Even though for the past few days he was on oxygen and couldn't say anything. He wanted to respond, thank her for paying attention, but the machine was helping his regulate his breathing which without it was difficult to get enough clean air.

Green eyes looked around the room and then at him seeing that he had a few blankets on. "You must be cold."

He moved deeper into the bed as he fought the urge to talk to her. He needed human contact; he wasn't supposed to live like this. His team was concerned and although only one member showed up, he knew that they were suffering a great loss.

The door opened his eyes moving to see who it was, it was a doctor. Was it about the mask? Was it time to finally take it off and see if he could breathe on his own? They walked closer moving to take hold of the oxygen mask and then gently pull it off of him. He was free, finally able to breathe the real air instead of pure oxygen, and more importantly he could talk to her.

"There you go," the doctor smiled. "Can you take a deep breath for me?" she asked, the cold metal of a stethoscope pressed up against his chest as he took a deep breath. "You sound like your breathing it getting back to normal." The cool tang was gone. "How are you feeling today, Sasuke?"

"B-better," he answered weakly as the doctor's eyes moved to the IV.

"That's good to hear," the doctor looked into directly at him, her smile getting wider. Her hands moved to the needle which led to the IV full of blood pulling it out. "Your blood count is back to normal. Looks like you won't need this anymore," she looked into his eyes. "You'll be out of here in no time, Sasuke."

He looked at the EKG letting out a sigh as her hands moved to the bandages on his neck. "How's your neck?"

"A little sore," he answered as he looked at Sakura.

Sakura smiled back at him as the bandages were removed, her smile dying as she heard the wince of pain. On his neck a few inches away from the jugular vein was the worst scar that she had ever seen. It was the bite, the mark faded a little, but she could still see how it looked on the first day that she saw him dying near the river. The marks around it had not faded either, showing the intimacy that the rapist tried to have with him.

"That looks like it hurts," Sakura breathed.

Sasuke felt the doctor wrap new bandages around his neck looking over at her. "It's n-not too bad, it's gotten better." He held out his hand to take hers. "Thank you, Sakura for staying here with me."

"What are friends for?" she asked taking his hand as she watched the bandage finished being wrapped. "You seem happier, Sasuke."

He smiled at her. "It's been a week."

"Still…" she started. "If it was me, I would be crying. You were raped, Sasuke, don't tell me that you aren't still feeling the pain," she held his hand tighter. "But you seem to be doing alright, like the doctor said, you'll be out of here in no time."

He closed his eyes remembering something that he hadn't realized in days. There was something missing with this picture. Although Sakura was there he knew that someone else should have been there that he hadn't seen since before the incident. Where was the one that he once called his best friend, the one who he thought would stand behind him the most?

"Where's Naruto?" he asked as he watched the doctor adjust his pillows. "I haven't seen him this whole time."

She closed her eyes. _"I heard him screaming last night; I didn't know it was him so I kept on going. I could have stopped it from happening, but it was so dark, so cold. I wasn't able to see what was going on. If I had known… I… I would have been there for him. He wouldn't be in this much pain." _He told her that he wasn't going to face him, not after what happened by the river. Sasuke was raped and then left to die, and Naruto heard every one of his screams but he didn't do anything. He stood there, walking hurriedly home thanking heaven that it wasn't him down there. But now the victim was right in this bed, it was Sasuke.

"He's been busy lately," she answered as the doctor left the room. "He also doesn't want to jeopardize you getting better. He wants to see you out of here and get back to normal. We've been going through a hectic time."

Sasuke sighed. "Just like him to wait for me to get better and not even care what I think of our friendship." A tear formed in his eye. "Tell me the truth… is it because… because of what happened? What did I do wrong? Wasn't I always there for you two?"

She looked away. "Sasuke…"

"Where is he?" Sasuke asked as he remembered with red eyes that were forever haunting his dreams, seeing them whenever he opened his eyes. "Sakura, where's Naruto." He shook his head. _Naruto, where the hell are you?_

Sakura held his hand tighter as she looked into the blank stare that made up his eyes. "Who did this to you?"

"It's a secret," he answered, his voice quiet.

"You told me you didn't remember," she gasped. "You can tell me, I won't understand the justification of how he did this to you, but please, tell me who did this to you."

He looked at the door and then back at her. "Can you keep a secret and promise not to tell anyone at anytime." His eyes were filled with pain. "I never want anyone to know that he's back in the village, I don't want them to know that he was after me."

"Who?" Sakura asked.

Four words left Sasuke's lips. "Itachi Uchiha, my b-brother."

Her eyes field with shock as she tried to absorb the information, his brother? What caused this rivalry between them that caused the elder of the two to be involved with this? Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi, everyone knew that, but he was back now for only God knows what reason. So far the only event that took place was the raping of his little brother.

"Itachi?" she asked. "As in…"

"The murderer of my clan, the man who became an ANBU squad leader when he was thirteen," Sasuke looked over at her. "He's back and I don't know his purpose. But I can almost taste the blood. I'm going to kill him, Sakura; this is why I survived that night, so I can pay it all back to him."

"No," she answered shaking her head. "You aren't going to go after him."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" he growled condescendingly.

"Your arm is in a sling, Sasuke!" her eyes were watering as she let his hand go. "He raped you and you still want a confrontation. You can barely breathe! Damn it…" her voice turned into a sob. "Are you trying to get yourself killed or did you lose so much blood that it doesn't matter anymore. He tried to kill you and he almost won."

He looked into her eyes. "S-Sakura… I have no choice, for years I've wanted to kill him. This is my chance for my revenge. He's testing me, seeing if I am stronger than I say, and I'm going to show him what I can do."

She looked at the EKG. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's all that I know how to do," he breathed as he looked at his left arm. "Don't tell anyone that I told you that it was Itachi. If the word even got out that he was in Konoha everyone would lose their minds. He's an S-class criminal and only seventeen."

Sakura held his hand again. "You know what, Sasuke. I think that you don't want to kill him, you just want his attention."

"What?" his voice was as sharp as a searing blade.

"You want him to notice you instead of paying attention to everything else," her voice was getting into a low whisper. "All of the times you wanted to get into his bed at night when you were scared, all of the goodnight kisses that you wanted, you want him to compensate for what he refused to do."

"You're wrong, I always got the goodnight kisses that I wanted, and during the dark stormy nights when I didn't want to wake up mother and father he used to let me into his bed, and he would hold me all night saying that the storm was going to pass. As long as he was there he said, nothing could touch me," he closed his eyes as he coughed. "I used to go in there just for the warmth that no one else gave me. I idolized him; I even loved him back then. If he left me…"

"Yeah?" Sakura asked, wanting him to continue.

"I would have hurt myself," he answered. "He always seemed so in control, until he joined ANBU, then the brother that I knew changed into that monster that he is today. That bastard that killed our parents…"

"Sasuke…" she soothed.

He shook his head. "H-he… I used to share a bed with that bastard, I used to hug him, kiss him, idolize him, but it was all a lie, he never loved me. He was just like everyone else, he just thought me to be weak," a cough passed his lips. "And now… he's taken it away from me… that bastard has managed to do this."

The two of them looked into each other's eyes. The thought of Itachi being in the village was making both of them uneasy. S-class criminals don't come back just to rape their younger brother; they usually have a bigger purpose. What was his purpose? And why was he with Sasuke a week ago? Was he part of the plan?

"Did he tell you what he wanted?" Sakura asked.

"He said he came to talk, but then when I started to fight back he pushed me to the ground and started to..." he shook his head at the memory of that night. "And then he started to push into me, and he moved so skillfully. In a way I think that I enjoyed it and that's why I let it happen."

"You liked being raped?" Sakura asked raising an eyebrow.

"I liked the attention, Sakura; I told you that when we were young he barely paid any attention to me. To have him on top of me, kissing me firmly, part of me couldn't say no," he smiled at her. "But the other part was screaming telling him to get off of me."

She shook her head not wanting to hear all that he was saying. He never told her this much about him, never wanting to give her a reason to allow her to get close. Now on the hospital bed he was pouring everything out to her, like he could trust her? Was it because Naruto wasn't there, or did he really want to talk to her. Why her? Was it because she would never be able to think any differently of him?

"Why are telling me all of this?" she asked.

"I don't know, because I need to tell someone," he answered coughing lightly.

He held her hand as the beeping ran through her ears, his heart going at a steady pace. She watched as he licked his dry lips, his glossy onyx eyes looking back at her as he held her hand tighter. She couldn't take her eyes off of him as she looked deeper into his eyes. There she saw it, all of the pain that was in his soul from the past week, he was dying right before her eyes. If only she had the courage before he was broken to tell him that she was in love with him.

"Sasuke," she breathed as she rested her head on his chest listening to the beat of his heart the beeps matching every pulsation. "I'm sorry about what happened."

"It wasn't your fault, Sakura," he answered running a hand through her pink hair. "You know that there was nothing that you could have done."

"I could have tried," she answered as he buried her face in his chest. "Sasuke," she whimpered. "I didn't want to lose you like that, I was so scared."

"I'm here," he breathed. "I'm alive."

She looked up at him quizzically asking a single question. "Why are you being so nice to me? Aren't I annoying?"

"You're the only one who came to see me," he shrugged. "I guess now that this happened everyone is going to treat me differently. But you won't, you still think I'm the same Sasuke that you joined Team 7 with."

"You are," she answered snuggling against his chest lightly. "Even if Itachi is trying to make you lose everything that you worked so hard to obtain. Though you can't go after him, let him do what he wants and then let him go on his merry way so that he can't hurt us."

"I'll try not to, but I won't make any promises," he looked into her eyes. "I just need to get out of here as soon as I can," he took a breath. "Oh and when you see Naruto, tell him that I want to see him. I haven't seen him in a while and there's so much that I want to tell him."

"Even after the rape?"

"I don't think he's that affected by it," Sasuke answered. "Do you have all of Konoha discussing it or something?"

-----

"That will jeopardize the Hokage, are you out of your mind," Asuma explained as the four jounin sat around a table. "We don't even know who did it."

"They sent in semen for testing," Gai argued. "There's no doubt that they found some sort of result through it. The semen was fresh when they took it off of Sasuke's body, and the blood on his lips, they said a substantial amount wasn't even his."

"The tests were inconclusive," Asuma continued. "So instead of making a public affair out of this, we should do it civilly. You know that by pissing these people off you could jeopardize the whole cause. Besides for a week now Sasuke Uchiha's been in stable condition."

There was a long silence between the two arguing jounin, they had been going at it for an hour trying to knock some sense into one another while Kurenai and Kakashi stayed quiet, not voicing their own opinions.

"Until we know, Gai," Asuma continued. "We can't jump to conclusions."

"Have you ever wondered what it's like to lose a student?" Gai asked. "What if this was Shikamaru, what would you do to save the boy's life? Would you do what you're doing now or would you issue an order?"

"He's not in any real danger, and we don't know who it is," Asuma took a drag of his cigarette. "There is reasonable doubt that says that whoever this person is will try to do this again. It might have been a one time thing to prove that he was able to do it."

"The sai marks make it obvious that it was a skilled ninja," Gai rebutted. "Only the best of the best now how to pin someone down without hurting someone, they are a difficult weapon, so who do you think would do this?"

"You don't think…" Kurenai started as she looked at Asuma.

"You think that Itachi Uchiha is back in Konoha going on a raping spree?" Asuma asked as he stood up. "He had only interest in one person and that was Sasuke Uchiha. And now he's out of commission. He won't be able to do anything for a while, he can hardly walk."

"He doesn't want his legs," Gai answered.

"You're being paranoid, I thought a ninja like you would accept the fact that maybe he got what he wanted and left all of our teams alone," Asuma explained. "You don't even know if it is Itachi."

"What would he be doing here?" Kurenai asked. "He destroyed all emotional attachment to this village leaving only Sasuke alive."

"That's why he's here," Gai continued. "To get Sasuke to go over to his side."

"That's absurd," Asuma scoffed.

Gai looked at him. "What do you think the Hokage would say if he saw this?"

"I'm saving his life," Asuma answered as he looked over at Kakashi. "And if there's something so wrong with Sasuke have Kakashi fix it. Sasuke is on his team and he needs to talk to him to know that the team is going to be alright."

Kakashi looked up. "Don't even joke saying that Itachi is here, Gai. You know what will happen if word gets out."

"Who else would do this to him?" Gai asked.

"Itachi is his brother, why would his own brother do that to him?" Asuma asked as he took the cigarette out of his mouth. "And besides, like we said earlier, what would his business be here?"

Kakashi sighed. "The nine-tails…"

The room was silent for a second, was it true, did the Uchiha prodigy really return for Naruto?

"That doesn't make any sense," Asuma continued. "Why would that involve, Sasuke? If he wanted the nine-tails he would have gone looking for Naruto. This is a crime done by someone who is already is in the village, a man from the inside. All of the people at the borders don't remember seeing him come in."

Kakashi looked at the window closing his eyes. "According to Sakura Haruno, Sasuke doesn't remember who his rapist was. And all of the memory tests confirm that he is blocking it out somehow." He stood up. "If there was a way that we could get it out of him."

"He's traumatized," Kurenai argued. "You aren't going to go in there and ask him to live the most painful day of his life, are you Kakashi? That's inhuman."

"No," Kakashi answered walking through the door. "Compared to what he's seen in his life, this pain is nothing. I'm not going to ask him to describe it in full, but hopefully it will uncover the face in his mind. And when we find out then we will decide the course of action. And if it is Itachi…"

The room was silent.

"I pray it's not," Kakashi continued as he walked out the door.

The face of his rapist was buried underneath all of the pain of the night, the unbearable physical pain, the blood, the muscle damage, the invasion of his own body. Was he really blocking the face out? Or was he trying to be brave and close the case making the pain easier to erase.

The screams in the middle of the night, everyone heard them, but no one heard them well enough to care or make out any name that he was screaming. All of the clues were useless, semen samples were indecisive, the blood on Sasuke's body wasn't evidence either. All that they had was Sasuke's word.

_Just tell us, Sasuke, _Kaskahi thought as he continued to walk down the hallway. The truth would come out of his soon.

-----

The rain hit nicely against the window, the sky crying out for the dilemmas that were at hand. Rain, the memories of the water made Sasuke's heart almost stop. He remembered when it rained when he was young. The warmth, the small kisses on his forehead. And the sweet whispers. _I won't let anything happen to you._

He let out a sigh as he snuggled deeper into the pillow remembering the breath of his forehead seeping out of his eleven-year-old brother's lips, the whispers getting louder in his ears. _I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke. _The warmth emitting from his brother's chest as he held him closer, the rumble of the thunder outside chilling the young boy only making him go nearer to that warmth, kissing his forehead lightly. He didn't know any better back then; he thought that his brother was just being friendly.

A week ago he didn't feel the happiness that he felt in his brother's bed all of those years ago. The movements, the ferocity, it wasn't what he thought that it was all about when he was young. It was touching back then. _Does he really want me that badly that he had to take it?_

His eyes went to the glass of the window the sound of the rain bringing small tears to his eyes. What was happening between them last night? He swore that through the pain he could feel the same warmth that he used to love about his brother, right before he got off of him, the last kiss that they had. He always had dreams about kissing those lips when he was younger, kissing them passionately. There was a time where his admiration could have been mistaken for… _no!_

His eyes opened as he looked around the room trying to find what was going on. It still wasn't a dream; he was still in the hospital after that night. He felt the heat roil in his abdomen as he thought about those bloody lips closed around his… _no._ He had to stop thinking about all of this. Sakura could come back any minute.

His blood ran cold as he looked at the EKG, his heart racing in his chest. The memories of the night were flooding back, but they weren't the negatives, they were the erotic ones. The pulsing flesh made sweat run down his skin, his sore legs tighten in erotic pain.

"Itachi…" he moaned quietly closing his eyes. _No! _He felt the lips hit his forehead again. The feeling of his warmth, the silken touch of his pale flesh, it was all running through his head making his body writhe, his inner heat roiling forward. _Am I surrendering to him? Why am I doing this? Itachi!_

He let out a moan as it all stopped, the horrible pain that was going through his body was now gone. _Sasuke. _He closed his eyes tighter as he thought of where the voice might be coming from. _Sasuke. _He swallowed hard as he heard footsteps going coming down the hall. _Did you think I was done with you?_

Obsidian eyes closed as he tried to block out all of the voices. _I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke. T_hey kept coming. _Run away, run away and cling to life. _They did not cease. _Forgive me, Sasuke. _His voice was right in his ear. _"Give up on your dream, you felt the consequences." _He felt his heart speed up dangerously as the handle to the door moved. _Sasuke!_

"No!" he screamed out as he turned away from the door, tears running down his face, the door swung open. "No! Keep away from me! Get you hands off of me! Don't touch me you bastard!"

"Sasuke!" the voice cried out in a soothing tone.

He let out a raspy scream his cries still not strong enough. "Get away from me! Get away!"

"Sasuke, look at me!" hands grabbed his face to bring him to see Kakashi right in front of him, his body was shaking. "You were having a nightmare."

"I-I'm awake," he breathed, the EKG still speeding up. "I-I was never asleep." He looked at the door. "Where is he?"

"Who?" Kakashi asked. "Do you remember what happened?"

He shook his head. "All I could hear was his voice, I-I couldn't see his face."

"Sasuke…" the jounin started. "If you're trying to protect him, it's not going to work. We have other ways to find out other than you. If you tell us you're going to start to feel better about yourself." He looked into Sasuke's eyes. "You're trembling."

"You startled me," Sasuke breathed as he moved closer to his sensei. "I didn't expect you to sneak in here." He shook his head. "And what you said about me feeling better, I'm fine."

"Sasuke, you were sobbing," Kakashi answered. "He's broken your spirit; you can't even hear footsteps without almost having a heart attack. I can help you through this. I can help you get all of the pain out of your soul."

The young boy's eyes looked up at the jounin, the black irises filled with an anger that he had never seen before. "Then get me out of here!" his body was shaking. "I'm sick of being in here while he's out there running free. He's winning, Kakashi…"

"And you got out with your life," the older ninja argued. "There are people your age that go through the same that you do and they aren't lucky enough to come out alive. They die right there and it's Hell. And not only are you alive, but no one has turned their back on you."

Sasuke laughed as he looked up at Kakashi. "No one has turned they're back, you say?" he laughed louder as he looked into his sensei's eyes. "Then tell me… where's Naruto, Kakashi?"

"He hasn't been here?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "I haven't seen him since before the incident. Tell me again Kakashi how lucky I was to have my best friend right here with me. Tell me how lucky I am to have him sitting next to me saying that he's always going to be with me the whole time. Tell me how lucky I am to know that he still thinks of me as a person even after I've been tortured!"

Kakashi looked into Sasuke's eyes. "He's probably scared."

"Scared?" Sasuke laughed. "He really is weak if he thinks that's going to pass. If this were him I would be the first one there." A tear fell down his cheek. "Because when I gave up my life for that of a ninja, I relinquished all ability to show fear. I chose this life, I could have chosen a different one, but I'm stuck now." Onyx eyes narrowed. "This is how it ends…"

Kakashi's eyes widened. _I know those words; I know who would say those. Not Sasuke but… _he looked away. Was everything that Gai said true, was he the only one who knew what was going on?

"_That's why he's here, to get Sasuke to go over to his side."_

Kakashi closed his eyes. _God Itachi… he's your little brother!_

Sasuke took a deep breath as his stare continued to pierce daggers through the jounin. Those eyes weren't his; they were different, broken, sadistic. They were looking for the weak point in Kakashi so he could attack it and take him out. They were like his; they were like Itachi's.

"Who did this to you?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I told you… I don't remember."

Kakashi laughed. "Why? Why are you hiding him?" he grabbed Sasuke's shoulders and pulled him to look into his eyes. "Why are you hiding your brother from us? Why don't you just come out and say it? Say that Itachi raped you!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at the remark. "Who do you think you are?"

"So he did?" Kakashi asked. "Itachi Uchiha has come back to Konoha and he decided to pay you a visit, a pleasant family reunion by the river."

"You don't know what it's like to be fucked by your brother! To be fucked by the only person that you ever respected the first person that you wanted to be," tears ran down his face with no mercy. "And then to be there and be completely helpless as he kisses you and touches you, and makes you want to die right there in front of him." He started to sob, his breathing jagged. "He… he fucked me!"

Kakashi helped Sasuke lie down as he panted, trying to catch his breath, his heart beating rapidly as he closed his eyes, sweat rolling down his face as his body shook more. There was more emotional damage then the doctors were let onto. He was dying on the inside as he thought about what happened and it was his own will trying to make him block out his pain, the greatest pain of all.

"He's coming back for me," Sasuke breathed as his heart raced. "He wanted something that I wasn't going to let him have. I punched him in the chest, breaking a few of his ribs. H-he has interest in me."

"Sasuke, stop it," Kakashi argued.

"I hit him, I can beat him," Sasuke answered. "But staying here in this hospital..."

"Your arm is in a sling and your leg muscles are bruised. Until you get better you are to stay in here," Kakashi answered. "And then whether or not you go after him is all up to you. I'm not going to stand in your way."

"But you're supposed to…" he looked at his sensei in shock.

"I would do the same if I was in your shoes, vengeance is a very powerful thing," the jounin answered. "But it only makes you feel empty inside. There's no way that you ever get to him, he is too skilled for that, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at the ceiling. "I don't care, if I could just make that heart that I fell asleep listening to all of those years stop I would be set for life. He killed everything that mattered to me."

"Will killing him bring your clan back?" Kakashi asked.

"You want me to give up too," he shook his head. "You're just like Itachi; you just want to bring me down like everyone else. He won't break me." He sat up looking out the window. "Itachi left me alive for a reason, he could have killed me, but… he…" he closed his eyes. "He wanted me alive. I'm an avenger."

Kakashi sighed. "Just sleep on it, Sasuke, we'll talk about this more later. In the meantime I'll send for some ANBU squads to guard you, they won't be much help, but they might wear down some of his chakra."

Sasuke smiled. "I know how to handle him."

Kakashi smiled as he stood up and walked toward the door leaving the young boy behind. Sasuke's mind was starting to go back to his youth when he was in his brother's bed, feeling his embrace wrap around him. The warmth of his breath on his neck as the thunder crashed. "Itachi…" he closed his eyes starting to fall into a state of slumber. "Why did it have to turn out like this?" _I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke. _"Why did it have to end like this?

He looked out the window taking a deep breath through his mouth as he did so. It was going to be a hard task, killing the only person that he ever idolized, but it was a risk that had to be made for the greater good of the village. He was a criminal and he was going to be the one to kill him. He touched him, he was close. So close that he could taste the blood.

-----

Rain fell to the ground as he walked down the street. It was true, Itachi Uchiha was back in the village, the purpose was unknown. It had to do with Sasuke. Whatever Sasuke meant to his plan was still a mystery, but it had a huge part or he would have killed him that night.

Kakashi kept on walking as he heard footsteps behind him. The air around him filled with the smell that was only distinctive to one person. The smell that he caught a few breaths of while he was crossed with an ANBU squad; it was the same smell that was on Sasuke when they found him.

"What are you doing out in the open?" Kakashi asked as he turned around to see a set of red eyes. "Itachi Uchiha?"

The scarlet irises looked straight at him as he walked forward. "Kakashi Hatake, I didn't know you would be in the hospital to see my Sasuke."

"I didn't think you would want to show your face to him, after what you pulled," Kakashi started as he looked into Itachi's eyes grabbing his shoulders. "You raped him, took his virginity and earned him more than enough time in the hospital. I should kill you right now."

There was a small silence as the rain fell onto their heads, falling down their faces, lose strands of hair coating their skin. Itachi looked into Kakashi's eye and smiled a small smile.

"You're staring at me," he laughed. "Is that your plan to kill me?"

"You raped him," Kakashi answered. "For the love of God, Itachi, he's your little brother. Don't you have any respect for him?"

"Respect?" Itachi asked. "Why do you think he's still alive? There's something that I need him to do, something that I will never be able to obtain by myself. What happened that night was nothing more but a test." He moved close to Kakashi. "But why are you acting so protective over my brother? Is he really your favorite student? Or is it because of the loss of Obito that made you act this way?"

Kakashi grabbed him tighter. "You little brat, what is your purpose? Who do you work for?"

Itachi laughed. "I work alone now, and as for my purpose in the village, that's none of your business now is it?"

The hold on him got tighter as he looked into the scarlet eyes trying to find some reasoning, there was none. He was completely blank and all he could get off of him was the smell of jasmine, that Goddamn feminine smell. He pulled him closer touching his ribcage hearing a small gasp of pain.

"Careful," Itachi breathed. "A jounin should be merciful to their enemy when not being attacked." He coughed a small amount of blood falling onto Kakashi's shoulder. "The kid's good, he's getting stronger with everyday that passes." He backed away.

"He broke your ribs," the older ninja breathed. "And you still want to come near him. He wants to kill you."

"Without the _mangekyou_ _sharingan_ he won't even get close to me," he smiled as he back away pushing the wet strands of hair out of his face coughing again. "You're just bitter because you read the bingo book, sore because I killed all of the Uchiha Clan; you're so cold toward me because you don't think I'm human." He moved to Kakashi's ear. "I'll tell you one thing," he whispered. "Sasuke is going to give me what I want, and I want you to stay out of this, otherwise you're going to get yourself hurt."

They looked at each other as Kakashi came up with a response. "I'm not going to watch you try to get into Sasuke's pants again."

"Why?" Itachi asked. "Do you really think that if you try to touch me right now I'm going to let you walk away? You'll be another useless casualty in my journey for power. And then there's Sasuke, he's the last piece, the one that I need more than anything. He belongs to me."

Kakashi watched the teenager start to walk away black hairs stuck to his porcelain skin as he moved further into the fog of the rain. There was a pain in his chest as he watched that bastard walk away. He took everything away from Sasuke that ever mattered, all to test what he could do. And he was coming back.

"Oh and tell Sasuke one thing, Kakashi," he took a deep breath as coughed again. "Tell him that he got lucky a week ago, and that I'm coming back to him."

"You'll never get at him," Kakashi answered. "We'll have ANBU squads there in no time. Try getting past all of that."

There was a silence as the rain fell harder onto them. "Kakashi… you underestimate me. I'm not the same kid that you might have seen all of those years ago. I've grown into a ninja comparable to the Hokage, to the legendary sannin, which makes me more powerful than you." he walked disappearing into the mist. "Don't try to hide Sasuke, I'll find him no matter where you put him."

Kakashi looked around, the whole area silent except for the falling rain. _What's his plan?_

-----

Sakura walked into the waiting room, the rain still falling on the window. _It's been raining for days; it's depressing to be here during this_. She walked to the chairs to sit down when she saw a familiar face, it was Naruto. "You decided to show up."

He looked up at her with a pained look in his eyes. "I'm not here to go in there, this is just the only place where I know that I can find out if anything has happened to him while I was gone." he took a breath. "What did happen?"

She sat down and sighed. "They took him off of the oxygen mask after two days of having it on, they removed the IV that was administering blood, and his temperature is still low, but it climbed to a healthy heat."

"Has he gotten any worse?" Naruto asked.

"They're concerned about the anal bleeding, he's torn up in there and they don't know how to fix it. Whenever they get close, he almost goes into respiratory arrest with the pain," she explained. "I'm never in there when they do it, but judging by the way he looked the morning after they tried, I know that he was in agony."

Naruto looked at the doors. "But did they find out who did it to him?"

She closed her eyes trying not to break right in front of him. _Don't tell anyone that I told you that it was Itachi. If the word even got out that he was in Konoha everyone would lose their minds. _She knew that he would tell Naruto if he wanted him to know and hearing it from her might not be the best course of action.

"No, the tests were all inconclusive," she answered lying to him.

"All of the tests?" he asked. "Even the test on the semen?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but all of the doctors say that he's blocking it out because he can't deal with the pain. Maybe if you tried to talk to him about it…"

"I'm not going in there!" he answered. "I saw him almost die more than you ever will. In the Land of Waves, his body died right in my arms. I felt his heart stop right as I held him, his body going limp. I don't want to see him in that much pain, Sakura." He closed his eyes. "And I heard him scream."

"That was a week ago," she soothed.

"A ninja should be therefore his comrades. Isn't that what Kakashi was trying to teach us with the bell test? He was telling us that we have to work together and put our own physical well being behind us," there was a small pause. "I was so thankful that it wasn't me. But when you brought me there and I saw him lying on the riverbank bleeding I knew that I made the wrong choice."

"He'll forgive you," she continued. "You were scared."

He stood up and looked at the door. "I can't live like this anymore; I'm not going to allow myself to stay out here when my best friend needs me the most. He's in the time of his life where he needs someone to help him through it, and this whole time I'm been avoiding him like I don't care." He glanced at Sakura. "Virgin or not, I'm not going to let this come between us."

He stood up and walked toward the doors going through them into a long hall moving to the elevator. He could feel the feeling of death clinging onto him as he tried to make it to Sasuke's room. The smell of blood led him there to outside the door. _On the other side he's there dying a little physically and emotionally_. He opened the door and heard the sound of a beeping EKG and an oxygen mask running, if only the sight was better than the sound.

His skin was still pale, hi eyes still half opened, sweat coating his skin. His arm was in a sling, bandages wrapped around his neck to stop the bleeding. _I have to get out of here. _A small voiced filled the room as the mask was removed, a cough following.

"Naruto?" it was Sasuke. "You came… I know you would."

He took a step forward looking at what had become of Sasuke. "I can see you're awake."

"I'll have plenty of time to sleep later," Sasuke breathed as he looked into his friend's eyes. "But you're here now; I knew you hadn't given up on me."

"Does it hurt to speak when you sound like that?" Naruto asked sitting on the side of the bed. "It sounds like you're throat's coming apart."

Sasuke nodded. "A little… but they said it should be better soon. I'm making great progress. Not like you'd care though, you never had anytime to show up. Were you finally going to celebrate for seeing me failing at something?"

Naruto heard the screams run through his head. "What could you have done differently?"

"I held my own, Naruto, I'm alive," Sasuke answered.

"But you don't know who did this to you…" Naruto demanded. "I'll kill him for even laying a hand on you."

"Why does it matter to you so much?" Sasuke asked. "It's not like you could have done anything." He looked up into broken blue eyes that were looking at the floor. "Naruto, you… y-you heard?"

"Every sound that you made," Naruto answered as he looked away from Sasuke's eyes. "I was waking home that night from Sakura's hoping that along the way I would meet you to make sure you were alright. Then I heard bloodcurdling screams, so I ran hoping that I was going to get away from it. But…" warm tears streaked his face. "The screaming… every scream was yours Sasuke and I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you. I haven't slept since I found you on the riverbank. I wasn't able to face you thinking that you'd hate me."

Sasuke looked at the EKG. "I screamed the whole time he was there hoping someone would hear me. I screamed until I could taste my blood in my mouth, until I could no longer speak, and no matter who they were everyone ran into their houses," he sighed. "Why did I even bother screaming, it wouldn't have stopped him."

"Who?" Naruto asked. "Do you remember who did this to you?"

"I always remembered, Naruto," he answered. "I just don't want to tell anyone."

"Who?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke scoffed. "I'm not telling you."

"Who?" the blond asked again, his voice fierce

The rain started to fall harder. "It's not an answer that you're going to like to hear, Naruto. It's an answer that pains me to say it," he looked into his best friend's blue eyes. "Have a little sympathy; you know what happened to me."

"I'm going to kill him," the blond answered as he stroked Sasuke's face.

There was a little laugh coming from the hospital bed. "You aren't going to kill him, Naruto, because I'm going to be the one to finish do it. We've been rivals since I can remember and his blood will be spilt on my hands."

"Who?" Naruto asked again.

"I'm not going to say the name, it hurts me too much." Sasuke breathed as he looked at the window. "If you need to think about that for a little while, then go right ahead." He readjusted himself on the bed. "Kakashi's bringing in ANBU, to keep me safe from him. I know that there's no use, but he said it will deplete some chakra and give him enough time to come in and save me, but it all has to be done so fast."

Naruto looked at the EKG. "ANBU's going to be here?"

"They're the only line of defense we know," Sasuke answered as Naruto stroked his face. "What are you doing you moron? Don't you have anything better to do than bother me?"

"I needed to see you," Naruto answered. "And I had to tell you that I could have done something before the guilt eats me anymore. I don't want to be the reason you died, that's why I brought you here so quickly."

Sasuke held his hand. "I forgive you," He rolled his obsidian eyes. "But if you're still thinking about who did this to me, he's still on the loose. He's an infamous S-class criminal in the bingo book and he's only seventeen," blue eyes narrowed in hate. "I think you understand it now. I can see it in your eyes."

Naruto took a breath. "Itachi Uchiha, your older brother that you hate."

Sasuke felt Naruto move closer to his body looking into his eyes. "He's my battle, Naruto, I've been waiting years to finally put him in his place," he closed his eyes. "There was a time when I felt that after I was touched I would never be able to go up against him, but if I can't take this minimal amount of pain, then how do I ever expect to go into a full scale battle with him?"

The blond looked out the window. "You still want to kill him? Usually I'd stop you, but after what he did to you… that bastard… deserves to die. And I'm not going to stop you, when you get strong enough, even if you have to train night and day, you'll beat him. Just promise me one thing."

"Yeah Naruto…" Sasuke answered as he looked into blue eyes.

"Don't die…" the blond begged. "Promise me that you're going to come out of this all alive. If you think about dying before I do… if you even think about it, I'll… I'll hate you more than I already do you bastard."

"Is that possible?" Sasuke laughed. "And I don't think you hate me that much. You're just jealous."

"Jealous of a boy in a hospital bed?" the blond asked.

"You leave this alone, it's a very minor setback," Sasuke answered holding Naruto's hand. "I'm going to get out of here and live my dream. Besides, if he destroys the whole village he's going to kill your dream too. So are you with me?"

"Y-you want my help?" the blond asked. "Sasuke…"

"I want you to support me and tell Kakashi that I need to do this with as little help from all of you as possible," he looked out the window. "He took everything from me, now I'm going to take everything for him."

Naruto watched as listened to the tone of Sasuke's voice, he was so passionate about this even after the man touched him. He was determined; nothing was going to get in the way of his goal. Even in the face of death he was never going to give up on his dream, Itachi was as good as dead.

"Thank you, Naruto," Sasuke answered with a small smile. "I'll live up to your promise as long as you allow me to do this."

The rain fell harder. "I want you to know that on the day when I saw you on the ground bleeding I swore that nothing like that would ever happen to you again," he held Sasuke's hand tightly. "I'm not going to sit back and watch you go through that much pain, never again."

Onyx met sapphire as their hands clutched each other tightly. Sasuke was going to be okay, there was no way that they would break their promise. The hits of the raindrops on the window were mixed with the beeps of the EKG as Naruto moved down to embrace Sasuke.

"I swear that I won't let anyone hurt you."

With one arm, Sasuke shakily returned the hug closing his eyes, someone still cared. _"There are people your age that go through the same that you do and they aren't lucky enough to come out alive. They die right there and it's Hell. And not only are you alive, but no one has turned their back on you."_

Luck, he did get out with his life, which was the fair price for what he was going to do as soon as he got out. He had it all; no one turned his back on him, only his anger to keep him warm. He was going to kill Itachi. He was an avenger.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Itachi is going to make a big appereance again in the next chapter, and he will bring ItaSasu with him. The next chapter also includes a major injury to a charecter. Thnak you for putting up with how long it was, you guys have dedication. So tell me what you think. Was it good? Was it bad? Tell me in your reviews. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Naruto, probably never will.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains violence, blood, incest, yaoi, sexual content, vulgar language, references to rape, OOC, and the canon is pretty screwed up (later chapters will show this more). This chapter is the longest one in the bunch so far, approx 18 and a half pages in Microsoft Word (this is not a quick read) There are also A LOT of errors that I probably didn't pick up. A CHARACTER GETS HURT IN THIS CHAPTER, SO TO ALL OF THE FANS OF THAT PARTICULAR CHARECTER, I DO NOT HATE THEM. Well, before the warnings get longer than the story, I close it here. Oh yeah, Itachi's back too...

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, Traces of KakaIta, Hints of AsuKure, and a splish-splash of GaiKaka (if you really look)

* * *

The rain continued to fall on the village as the hospital was filled with horror. Around every corner there was an ANBU squad waiting to strike at the first sign of danger. At the door there were two men with katana questioning who ever came in trying to get past any suspicions. 

"He's master of genjutsu," one of the guards said as they passed Sasuke's door. "He could be around any corner."

"Do you think he's in there with the boy?"

"No, he might be a master of genjutsu but he can't walk through walls."

Sasuke looked around the room as he remembered what happened yesterday. He felt warmth on his as he tried to move, the darkness of the room hiding the secrets. Was it Itachi? His heart raced in his chest as he thought of his brother in here touching him again, but through the glare of the light from the dark clouds he saw who it was, it was Naruto resting gently on his chest in a state of deep slumber, still embracing his friend.

"Don't people miss you?" Sasuke asked as he moved his hand from his embrace. "Go home and sleep in your bed, Naruto," blue eyes looked up at him. "You look like hell." He laughed lightly as Naruto opened his eyes fully.

"You think you look perfect?" Naruto asked. "You're soaking wet."

"It's sweat, you moron," he answered rolling his eyes. "God, I thought you would have been able to hear me pain, you have been there for a whole day, and your fat ass on me isn't helping any of this."

"Quit your whining, you drama queen," he answered as he sat up. "It's really dark in here. How can you not fall asleep during this?"

Sasuke smiled. "I _was_ sleeping… but it was hard to breathe with you on top of me, Naruto. So I woke up coughing," he took a breath. "Did ANBU question you? Or do they not know you're in here."

"Oh come on," Naruto answered as he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Kakashi-sensei said that I was harmless. So only Sakura and I are really the only ones allowed in here. You should be honored that you have such a small guest list."

Sasuke laughed. "Well, Naruto, today's probably going to be the day when they try to fix the broken tissue again. It would be the perfect day, the only way to keep Itachi out of here."

Naruto watched as Sasuke cringed. "Does that hurt? The procedure?"

"It stings for a little while, then your breath gets caught in your throat," he looked at Naruto's hand that was grabbing onto his. "It's like getting raped all over again. They go so deep in there and they keep pushing and pushing against all of the ripped flesh."

"Wow," Naruto sighed. "So it really does hurt."

"You have no idea how much it hurts," Sasuke answered. "Why am I talking about this with you? Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm not doing anything to you," Naruto answered. "I'm just trying to talk to you. You've been acting strange since I came in here, is it because you feel as though you can't get close to someone."

"I can get close," Sasuke continued. "I can talk with you all day long."

Naruto held Sasuke's hand as he looked at the EKG. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you, I told you that. I'm not going to leave this room, Sasuke, and you can't make me."

"But Itachi…"

"Won't get past the guards," Naruto answered as he looked into watering black eyes. "As for you, you need to get some sleep. You aren't going to get better by being this stubborn."

Sasuke looked up into the window as he thought about his brother. Did they think this was going to stop him? A few guards? No. Itachi took out some of the best ninja that Sasuke had ever seen. He killed Shisui the Mirage; he killed everyone in the Uchiha clan. He was a monster, no remorse in his actions. The rain was going to cover up any chill that they could feel as he walked by. It would be the perfect day.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Naruto soothed as he walked toward the door.

_I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke. _The words ran throughout his head as he looked into the darkness of the room. He was the only thing that was on his mind ever since they had sex. Was it really rape? By standards it was considered such, but in his heart it was different. Could it be rape when someplace deep inside he wanted it?

_No, I didn't want it in any way shape or form! The only thing that I want is for his face to leave me alone! I was being used and abused by my own brother, there is no was. _A tear ran down his cheek as he was lost in his thoughts. _I was an idiot to think that he would have gone easy on me, he's a psychotic pervert after all, and he is obsessed with me._

He closed his eyes going back into a place and time where he was still safe. _You can come into bed with me, but only for this one night. _One night, turned into every storm, every thunderstorm that happened he would go in there so he could be embraced by his brother's arms. The beat of his heart, the beating still resonated in his mind. He was always going to be there.

"Itachi…" he breathed. _My body is giving out on me, the sensations are getting closer. No! I am not in love with him! I am not in love with my brother! _He heard ANBU walk down the hall still talking.

"Why would his brother rape him? That's disgusting."

_Disgusting? _Sasuke's eyes moved to the door, what the hell were they doing. Did they think that he couldn't hear them? _Itachi's far from disgusting just because he raped me. Disgusting? _

"Well he is a monster…"

_Monster? What is this? _He felt the pain in his arm increase. "Damn it…"

Was he in love with his brother? Did that make _him_ a disgusting monster? No. He wasn't disgusting, he wasn't a monster, he was a victim to his brother's spell. He was somehow drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

"I would feel so sorry for him; I heard that he was a virgin."

"Losing it to your brother, how terrifying."

No. He was not going to listen to them. The abuse that he was getting without them even knowing it, the way that the ANBU talked about people, it was starting to get to him. No one was going to talk about Itachi that way. Bastard or not, blood was thicker than water.

"_I-Itachi? W-what do you mean? What happened to you?" _He remembered the look in his brother eyes; feeling the tremor in his body as they talk about what happened in ANBU right when he said those two words

_Absolute Hell. _What did they do to him? Did they give him this much abuse? No, he was one of them. He was a squad leader! Or did they… did they rape him while on the missions. He came home with scars; he knew that they were from all of the fighting but the way that he almost never slept. Was he plagued by the memories of his squad of men that were much older than him?

"Itachi," he breathed as his eyes closed. "I'm sorry…"

The voices were fading.

"He's nothing but a whore now."

_No, that's not true._

"The great Itachi Uchiha is an incestuous queer."

_No, stop saying that!_

"I'm sorry, Itachi…" he breathed again another warm tear running down his face. The voices meant nothing at they stopped invading his ears. They were all lies; his brother wasn't the person that he described. He was different, he was better than that.

But he wasn't in love with him.

-----

"Whatever you do, you can't let anything happen to Sasuke," Kakashi looked at the ANBU squads that were at the front of the hospital. Even after hours of having the squads out there he still had the fear of losing Sasuke to Itachi. He was getting closer every minute that went by.

"_Respect? Why do you think he's still alive? There's something that I need him to do, something that I will never be able to obtain by myself. What happened that night was nothing more but a test." _

He looked around the front of the hospital as rain continued to fall down on him. Itachi was out there searching for him, and he wasn't going to give up until he got him. _Is he working for Orochimaru? _The words repeated in his head. He worked alone now, did his organization drop him? It didn't add up, it made absolutely no sense.

"Kakashi," a voice called out from behind.

He turned to see who it was. "Asuma."

The other jounin walked closer the rain still falling. "You seem tense."

"Of course I do," Kakashi answered. "You've heard the information concerning a week ago; you know what happened to Sasuke."

"Itachi," Asuma answered as he threw his cigarette to the ground. "I know that it must be hard on you knowing that he's back in the village. After what he did the kid has courage, I give him credit for that."

"He's after Sasuke."

"I know, Kakashi, why else would he be back here? He's coming to take back what's his," Asuma closed his eyes. "I'm sorry about the lack of ANBU; this was all that the village could provide you with. I don't know if this is even going to work. He knows ANBU secrets."

Kakashi looked up at the window leading to Sasuke's room. "Itachi's wounded."

"What? What do you mean he's wounded?"

The rain fell harder. "Sasuke got a good punch in before he was pinned down, he broke I'd say around three of his ribs on the left side. He can hardly breathe; he was coughing up blood when we spoke yesterday. He's in tough shape."

The area went silent as another man walked up to the door, it was an ANBU official. It looked right enough, he had the armor, he had the mask, he even had the tattoo on his left arm. But there was something suspicious about him.

"Where are you going?" Asuma asked.

The man looked over at him. "I was given orders to go on the inside and switch shifts with one of the other guards. Is there something wrong, sir?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. _I know that voice._

"No," Asuma answered. "No problem."

Chills ran through the air as the man walked through the doors, a familiar smell filling the air. _Jasmine_. No, there was only one place where Kakashi had smelled that scent. The scent of jasmine. No, it couldn't have been him, not now. But it was _his_ smell; it was _his_ scent, the only way to recognize him.

He had all of the other attributes that Asuma had neglected to point out. It had his body frame, the small yet defined structure of his body, his hair was in a long black ponytail that was nicely tied back, and that was his armor. But most importantly the breathing, it was labored, his ribs were broken.

"Jasmine," Kakashi whispered as he walked in the path of the ANBU guard.

"What?" Asuma started walking after him. "Kakashi! Where are you going?"

"Stay here, Asuma," the younger jounin demanded. "I don't need you to get hurt during this one. Watch the ANBU Black Ops down here."

He ran into the building as he heard Asuma screaming his name behind him asking who it was. _Itachi, you little devil. You think you can sneak in while you look like that? I can hear you breathing all the way back here._

They stood at the elevator, the officer inside. He took of his mask looking at him with the horrid red eyes that he feared everyday of the hospital stay. Taking a few step forward, Kakashi felt a roiling heated anger fill his body.

"Itachi," he breathed.

"I told you, Kakashi, don't underestimate me," the door closed as Kakashi stood right outside the doors, pressing the buttons to get in. He had only a minimal amount of time to save Sasuke from absolute death. The laughter filled the empty room as he kept pushing the button.

"You damn bastard!" he hit the door harder. "Itachi!" he closed his eyes as he rested his body up against the door. _I swore… I swore that I would never see another Uchiha die. I swore that I would save him. Sasuke, I'm sorry. _He looked over at the stairs. _Maybe there's a way that I can still get there before he does. You aren't going to win this one, Itachi, I'm going to get there first._

He ran to the stairs thinking about what was going to happen when he got in there. What was Itachi going to try to do_? "Why? Do you really think that if you try to touch me right now I'm going to let you walk away? You'll be another useless casualty in my journey for power. And then there's Sasuke, he's the last piece, the one that I need more than anything. He belongs to me."_

His heart beat faster in his chest as he tried to get to the room as fast as he could. Itachi was getting craftier. _I don't care if I am a useless casualty, as long as that boy gets out of there alive and well. You aren't going to poison him with more of your lies, you bastard._

He could hear Asuma start to chase after him screaming his name. "Kakashi! Where are you going?"

_Can't he take a damn order? _He ran faster up the stairs hearing the door open. He was being chased now. _He's not going to stop me from saving Sasuke. I am not going to watch another Uchiha die. Not after Obito._

"Kakashi!" Asuma cried out as he continued to follow him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I told you to stay put, Asuma!" he cried out still going up the stairs avoiding his fellow jounin. "I don't want you to get involved in this."

The other walked up the stairs after him. "Kakashi, what the hell do you think you're doing? We're supposed to be out there protecting the hospital, not going after suspicious looking ANBU members."

"It wasn't a normal guard, he was Itachi Uchiha."

"How do you know?" Asuma asked as he grabbed Kakashi's wrist pulling him back. "Kakashi, come on, just get back down there. Itachi isn't going to hurt Sasuke, he wouldn't have come in so easily."

"He's armed," Kakashi answered as he tried to pull away. "I have to stop him before he gets too far into it. If he hurts Sasuke, I'm going to kill him."

"Kakashi!"

"Let go…"

"Kakashi," the pull became greater. "He'll kill you."

"It's a sacrifice I have to make for my squad," he looked back at his colleague. "I don't want to see your blood get spilled during this. If Itachi comes to you, I might not be able to hold him off," he pushed him away. "I don't want to watch you die."

"Kakashi, I can take it," Asuma answered.

More force was applied as he pushed him closer to the edge. "Let me go, Asuma, and get back down there with he guards. I don't want to see you get hurt in this. Itachi is a ruthless ninja and I know that he won't go easy on you."

"I'm not leaving," the other jounin answered.

Kakashi's hand moved to Asuma's chest as he pushed him. "Then I'm going to have to make you stay, even if I have to break you arms and legs!" He fell back hitting the stairs, Kakashi's eyes closed as he to see his colleague falling down, blood running from his lips as he hit chest, breaking his ribs. "I'm sorry, Asuma."

He hit the ground with a loud thud, his body shaking as he tried to breathe, his lips coated with blood. He weakly opened his eyes looking up at him. "Kakashi." He took another breath as he struggled to his feet. "How do you know that it's Itachi?"

Kakashi opened the door as Asuma fell to his knees uttering one single word. "Jasmine." He ran through the halls leaving his pleading colleague behind not paying attention. _He's probably already there; I don't have much time to get there. _He ran faster, he was still a floor too low to be of any importance. _I'm going to get you, Itachi. You're not going to touch that boy! I can smell you all the way back here you bastard! I'm coming for you._

-----

Sasuke's eyes opened rapidly as he looked at the door hearing the bangs and crashes that were coming from outside. Were the ANBU having fight, did all of the alcohol those men drank while on the job finally get to them?

_What the hell is their problem? They can't even stop fighting each other? _Then he saw it, the blood running underneath the door. What was going on out there? He lifted his body looking at the doorknob. It was turning.

No. It couldn't be it wasn't. The door opened and there he stood, a man in an ANBU uniform covered in blood. A strange smell ran through the room, the smell of jasmine. He remembered that smell from that night by the river. Jasmine, that with the mix of sweat and blood. It was all becoming clear.

The man took another step forward as he looked into the mask, he knew the face behind, he could see the traces of his jaw line. It was the jaw line that he dreamed about planting many kisses along. The smell got stronger as he got closer to the bed. The beeping from the EKG became more rapid as he choked on his own breath. _This hurts. _He took another deep breath trying to get rid of the burning that was going up and down his throat.

"W-what are you doing h-here?" he struggled on his words as he tried to catch his breath. _I can't breathe._

"It's been a while, Sasuke," the man breathed heavily as he knelt next to the bed. "It's been a whole week hasn't it?"

The smell was intoxicating, making the young boy's mind go through a series of battle not to get aroused from it. But this ANBU guard wasn't an average ANBU guard, he knew him, and the way that his body was shaped looked familiar. All too familiar.

"How long?"

"What?" Sasuke asked feeling the man stroke his face.

"How long until you get out of here?" his hand was soft even after gripping a katana. He could still feel the dryness of the fair flesh; this man had been handling heavy weapons for a while something that many of the guards couldn't say.

Obsidian eyes opened and caught a glimpse of something on the man's had: purple nail polish. His breath caught in his throat as his stomach churned violently. The EKG had a hitch of an irregular rhythm as he whispered his name. "Itachi…"

Silence filled the room as the man moved his hand to take off the mask dropping it to the ground with a thud. Underneath the mask he saw it, the same scarlet eyes. He let out a low sigh as he looked down at his brother, a smirk on his face.

"It's been a while," he moved down to kiss Sasuke on the lips lightly. "How are you doing?"

"After you tore me up on the inside?" Sasuke asked turning away.

"Physically or mentally?" Itachi asked as he looked around the room. "It's dark in here. Doesn't that get annoying?"

"I sleep most of the time."

"Sleep?" he older ninja asked as he stood up walking toward the door. "You have time for such wasteful activities? I know that in my lifetime there would be no use for any of these pastimes."

"I have plenty of time in here," he answered, wishing that Itachi would disappear. It was torture being there strapped to a bed watching the man that you wanted to kill more than anything walking around in the same room as you. He was only a few feet away and there was nothing that Sasuke could do. It was useless.

"Did you see it?" Itachi asked his voice low, easing up to the point of concern. "The other side?"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "You mean did I die?"

His brother's eyes looked back at him. "Did I kill you, Sasuke?" his eyes weren't showing any emotion. "Did I?

Sasuke's eyes closed as he took a deep breath. "Yeah."

Itachi closed his eyes and muttered a quiet: "Damn," red looked up to meet onyx, his eyes starting to bleed with traces of emotion. "How long did I kill you for?"

"For only a little while," Sasuke answered noticing the anger in Itachi's eyes. "But they said I'm going to be alright. There was no major damage to my heart, but they said it weakened my lungs a little." There was a small pause as he noticed Itachi wasn't paying attention. "Four times they had to try to revive me. All because of you, you selfish prick! If you hadn't done that to me, I wouldn't be in this much pain." A tear ran down his cheek his voice breaking. "It hurts to be in here."

Itachi moved to Sasuke's side. "The more you cooperate the sooner you'll get out." He held his younger brother's hand, Sasuke gasping in shock. "Just hold on for a bit longer, it gets better, you'll be able to breathe in no time at all."

"Why do you care?" Sasuke asked as he looked at the hand. "You raped me."

"I know…" Itachi retorted as he caressed the hand gently. "I didn't mean to do that to you. I just… I…"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "What?" Was Itachi going to apologizing for something?

He felt Itachi's breath form on his lips, his eyes looking straight into his, the cool metal of the armor up against his fragile chest. Itachi's lips kissed lightly at Sasuke's forehead and then he moved to his cheeks, his lips quick yet soft.

"No…" the younger brother protested. "No, Itachi, stop it."

"I didn't want to have it be like that," his silken tongue ran along Sasuke's Adam's apple making his body shudder. "I didn't want you to wind up here, all you had to do was say stop, but you didn't. I swore… I swore that I would never let anything happen to you, and I'm not going to let myself do that again, no matter how much I want to hurt you.."

Sasuke pushed his right arm against Itachi's chest. "I'm not just going to forgive you. You raped me! I'm not going to let you walk in here and pretend that nothing happened. I'm not going to let you dance all over me."

"I don't intend to," Itachi breathed. "I just want to talk."

"_I just came to talk, Sasuke. There's no use getting mad."_

"I'm not going to fall for that one again!" he protested. "That's what you said a week ago. Go to Hell, Itachi."

Tears streaked his face as he turned to the side coughing lightly. He didn't want to have his brother there anymore; he wanted to see him go away from him. He wasn't supposed to be there. He killed the guards and got past Kakashi, how?

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed his hand moving to wipe away the tears. "I didn't…"

"It won't work this time," the young ninja whispered as the room got darker from the clouds, rain falling harder onto the windows as he took a light breath. Then the room filled with a blinding flash of light followed by a loud rumble.

"Damn it!" Sasuke breathed as he closed. _It's just a lightening storm, it can't hurt you. It can't hurt you._

Itachi stood up and started to walk toward the door again. "I guess I'll be on my way then," he put his hand on the discarded mask. "Sorry to be a bother."

"No," Sasuke's voice was shaking as was his body. "W-wait," he lifted the blankets. "Don't leave me alone now. I-I don't." _Crash! _"I can make an exception since you're already here. Come on, I-I-I…"

Itachi looked out the window, a grin plastered on his face. "You're still scared."

"I am not," Sasuke scoffed.

"Then why are you asking for my attention? Are you trying to lure me I so you can take me out easier? Or are you really starting to forgive me for what you did because you liked it," Itachi smirked.

"Remind me to obliterate you once I get out of here."

Itachi walked forward, standing over him looking down into his eyes. He always knew he shouldn't do that, even when they were young he always had an effect on him; he always made Sasuke want more. Smooth hands caressed Sasuke's forehead as Itachi sat down next to him on the bed. The smell of jasmine filled Sasuke's mind again as he looked up licking his lips lightly.

"Itachi…" he breathed feeling his brother move down on top of him, his warmth encompassing him. "You're so warm."

"I'm not that warm," Itachi purred.

Sasuke moved his right hand up to stroke his brother's face looking into his eyes. Even though he was his rapist, the one who almost killed him, he couldn't get him off of his mind. He needed him, his body was crying for him. Maybe he deserved the pain.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed kissing at the tattoo on his brother's left arm, his tongue gliding across the black inked flesh.

"Sasuke?" they looked into each other's eyes again. "I thought you hated me."

"Don't think this means you won," the young boy smiled. "I know the sooner I give you what you want, the sooner you go away. You're predictable, Itachi, and you've come here because your colleagues want something."

"Actually, on the contrary," he kissed his forehead. "I work alone."

A small laugh was exerted. "You always were the type to do everything on your own," he could feel his breath mix with his brother's as they moved closer to one another. "Itachi…"

His eyes closed as he met his brother's in a warm kiss. His heart as racing in his chest, not because he didn't want it, it was because he needed it. The same warm silken tongue that violated his mouth a week ago entered his mouth again, stroking every spot that made him moan and beg for more.

Purrs filled the room as their breathing became more and more ragged, a shaking hand moving to grab Itachi's ponytail, pulling him closer. The heat roiled, breath catching in his throat, his fingers shaking as they grasped the ebony hairs, he was losing it. He was here with his one true hate and he wasn't going to make an attempt to kill him.

_What's going on? My body… _he grabbed onto the ponytail tighter. _Why am I doing this? I don't have to surrender to him._

Their lips left for a moment, both of them taking a deep breath as Itachi moved back breathing heavily. It was a good time to get at him. All he had to do was move, move just a little forward. His body was stuck on the bed, saliva dripping down his chin. Never had he been this numb with pleasure. Itachi felt so good.

"I-Itachi," he breathed trying to move his left arm wincing.

"What is it?" Itachi asked, his breath heavy, thick with sexual desire.

"Like I said, you can't just come in here kiss me and expect me to say that I love you," Sasuke breathed. "I hate you! Everything about you!" he let out another wince as he tried to move his left arm. "Don't fuck with me. Not now, not again."

Itachi watched as Sasuke desperately tried to move from the sling on his arm, his low cries filling the room. "I wouldn't do that if I was you, you could hurt yourself, and the last thing that we want is your arm to be damaged more."

"Stop trying to care!" his fingers moved to pull the wires off of his chest, the EKG going to a flat line. The harmonic beep filled the room as Itachi stood in one place, his face finally showing some incarnation fear. That was the heart monitor that was connected to Sasuke, the one that showed that he was still alive. It was nothing but one long sound now, it represented death. It burned him.

"Sasuke, get back in bed," he said calmly as he watched him balance himself on his right arm trying to get up. "Don't strain yourself."

A squeal echoed off of the walls as Sasuke's feet hit the ground, he was trying to stand up, but the pain rolled up his spine his whole body aching in pain, his screams the same pitch as the EKG, blood rolling down his legs. _I shouldn't be walking… it hurts too much, and I'm losing more blood._

"Sasuke…" Itachi's tone of voice was different; it was a little more concerned. "Be reasonable and get back in bed!"

"You…" Sasuke took a breath his body shaking as he walked forward, his arm still in the sling. "You can't tell me what to do! I'm not yours to play with!"

Itachi backed up watching Sasuke's feet come closer, he shouldn't even be standing up. The pain that was running through his body was too great. No. He wasn't supposed to be moving this soon, and the blood dripping down his legs proved that.

"Sasuke!" Itachi begged, his voice on the verge of breaking the barrier between fear and anger.

"I'm going to kill you," the young boy muttered as he pulled out the IVs walking closer still. "I'm not going to let you live after what you did to me," sweat was pouring down his face. "You bastard!" his breath was catching again, but the walls of his throat were closing with every movement. _Damn it! I can't breathe. My body…_

He fell to his knees and started shaking, screaming out in pain. Blood was running down his legs vigorously as he struggled to get back up but to no avail. With cold black eyes he looked up at his brother, his body fragile.

"I… I'm going to…" he took a deep breath trying not to give into his pain. "I'm g-going to kill you." he coughed violently as he reached his right arm. A thunderclap echoed through the room as he moved face down. "I want to kill you."

Itachi crouched down next to him. "Kill me? You can't even walk," he scoffed, his voice in a mocking tone.

"They said I'll be walking in no time," Sasuke breathed, his words muffled by the floor. "You tore me up pretty badly."

The older brother rolled Sasuke onto his back looking into dark eyes. "Don't push yourself too hard."

"Don't try to be the brother that was a figment of my imagination. It's easier to kill the stone cold prick that you've become," he looked away from his brother who's hand was going to caress his face. "No…"

"You weren't protesting a few moments ago," Itachi breathed stroking his brother's face. "Sasuke, please, don't hurt yourself. Is your dream worth your life?"

"My dream burns stronger after what you did."

"Sasuke," his brother smiled. "I only did it to make you give up on that dream of yours. I know that you want to have the taste on my blood on your lips, but you have to understand that I won't let you," he kissed his forehead. "I will keep destroying until you give up on that little goal. Give up…"

Sasuke swallowed a moan as his brother kissed him deeper. "N-n-no, I won't do that. It's been years since I made that promise to myself and I'm not going to break my promise, even if you try to break me. Rape me all you want, kill me, I don't care, as long as I get you to die even on the inside after what you did."

There was a small silence before there was a sigh. "You just don't get it do you?"

"Get what?" Sasuke could sense the terror rising in the air.

"I'm here for you, Sasuke," the older one answered moving back onto his knees. "I'm here to talk to you about something that is going on now, regarding the nine-tails that lies in your best friend Naruto Uzumzki."

"Nine-tails?" Sasuke asked. "Naruto? What do you want with him? Is it that stupid organization, are you trying to get back in by turning him in? You're low."

Itachi laughed. "Sasuke, why would I turn over the one thing they wants more than anything when I can finally foil their plans?" He moved to Sasuke's ear. "I'm going to do something to him that will make all of them pay for what they did to me." He kissed as his younger brother's neck on the bandages that wrapped around.

"What are you going to do?" he turned his head to meet his brother's lips receiving a light kiss. "What are you going to do to Naruto?"

Itachi pulled back after another short kiss, warm breath condensing on his lips. "I'm going to kill him…"

"Kill him?" Sasuke asked his voice raising a pitch.

"They'll never get him that way," he backed away looking down at the young bloody boy. "And you're going to deliver him to me."

Sasuke breathed heavily as one of his brother's hands moved to run through his hair. He wasn't supposed to enjoy this, not with Itachi, not with the brother that he hated through all of the years. Now he told him the worst news, he was going to have to kill Naruto? No! There were some things that couldn't be done.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "You want me to help you kill my best friend?"

"It's necessary," Itachi answered his voice quiet.

"What's telling you all of this bullshit?" Sasuke asked. "What's telling you what's necessary or not? What told you to kill our parents? What told you to kill Shisui? What told you to kill those innocent guards? What told you to fuck me that night? What the hell is doing all of this to you? What's controlling you?"

Itachi looked out the window getting lost in the dark clouds. "I'm in control of my own destiny, just like you are. We aren't that different you and I. When you think about it we're almost exactly the same. Both of us have sworn our lives to revenge, and now we can work together to get what we want."

"I'm not like you!"

Itachi's eyes closed. "Protest all you want, just get me the nine-tails," he looked at his younger brother. "Now I'm going to get you back to bed before you get hurt even more. That noise is getting to me."

Sasuke scowled at him as he felt his body being lifted the pain still in his lower half, pulsing up to his brain. He felt the warmth up against his chest hearing his brother's heart beating. It was the sound that he had fallen asleep to all of those years back. It was his brother's warmth, the one that he had fallen in love with.

He closed his eyes as he was placed back on the bed, the smell of jasmine filling his nostrils. The feeling of the wires that had confined him to the bed returned his brother's hands moving quickly.

"You little fool, why would you get out of bed?" Itachi asked coughing lightly, traces of blood on his lips. "Damn it…"

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked, the blood dripping onto his cheek, it was Itachi's blood. "What the hell? Are you alright?"

The beeping started again as Itachi continued to cough lightly. "Do you remember what you did to me that night, Sasuke? Right before I pinned you down? You must know. It was your own fist that hit me."

It came back to him instantly. _Crunch! _The sound of his brother's bones cracking was filling his mind. Did he do that to him? He actually got to lay a finger on him and when he did he almost killed him.

"I…?" Sasuke looked away.

"You broke three of my ribs," he answered. "It's slowed my movements down a little, but I'm not going to give up. You're going to bring me that fox and I'm going to get my revenge on that whole organization. Nothing is in my way now."

Sasuke looked at his brother's shaking hands as he inserted the IV needle. He was in pain, this was more than just a minor setback to him, it was like his life was taken away with that single hit. All of the power that he had was his reason for living. Did he kill him like he told himself he would? Did he make all of that pain remerge in his brother's unstable mind?

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "I just wanted to know why you did all of this. Especially what you did to Shisui, I thought he was your best friend."

There was another silence as a thunderclap filled the room. "I knew that he was supposed to be the first sacrifice. I told you that because I killed him I was able to obtain that mangekyou sharingan," he looked at the EKG. "Sasuke… I didn't want to kill you because I need you. Look at me now; I'm begging you to help me."

There was a dreadfully long silence right before Sasuke moved his hand to stroke his brother's face. "I don't want you to come here and beg to me. I don't want your Goddamn apologies. I want you to finally feel the pain that I've gone through all of these years and how you destroyed my life."

Itachi touched Sasuke's hand turning to kiss at the palm. "You want me to feel pain?" he took one of the fingers into his mouth sucking lewdly. "I didn't know that you hated me that much. Isn't the blood you spilt enough."

The rain fell harder as Sasuke's vision blurred feeling the way that he was sucking on his fingers, making his whole body go numb with the pleasure that he was excreting.

"S-stop," Sasuke begged.

Itachi pulled back. "Stop? Why?"

"B-because," Sasuke swallowed around the lump in his throat, his pulse racing. "Because I want you to kiss me again," he closed his eyes. "P-please, enough with the fingers."

"Begging?" Itachi asked. "I thought that the little avenger would be above such an act. I thought you would care more about that pathetic dream. Or in this moment have you finally come to realize that your body craves me?" he moved closer. "You feel overwhelmed with heat don't you? I can see in your eyes, you try to hide it, but you're worse at hiding than anyone that I have ever seen."

"Quit acting like you know me," Sasuke begged his voice thick with an unknown emotion. "The Sasuke that you knew is dead along with that fake Itachi that you created. You will no longer deceive me; this is going to end now."

"With a kiss?" his wet tongue ran along Sasuke's dry lips

"Are you going to hurt me?" he moved to his brother's ear.

"I can't hurt you anymore," Itachi's lips hit Sasuke's, the EKG racing. "I need you in one piece now. The examples are done, there are no more tests of your capacity. This is all a grander design; I want to see what you can do. This is all about you, all that I'm doing now is about you."

"You came all the way here just for me?" Sasuke asked kissing him again. "You're crazy… and so damn selfish."

"I always get what I want," he answered pushing Sasuke deeper into the bed biting gently at his lower lip, his tongue teasing the violated flesh that was in his mouth.

A loud wet moan filled the room, Sasuke's lips parting to take Itachi's tongue in. He couldn't help what he was feeling right now, he wanted more, he wanted to wrap his arms around him, feel his heat circulate through him. His right arm moved shakily to embrace Itachi's body, gently touching the spot right in between his shoulder blades feeling his brother's body tense.

"I-Itachi," he breathed up against his lips. "It hurts."

"What hurts?" Itachi asked backing away. His lips moved to kiss lightly at the bandages that concealed the bite that he had left him with. He kissed every spot of his depravity: Sasuke's shoulder, his neck, his lips, his wrists. The room grew hot as the rain pounded down even harder.

"Stop that," Sasuke begged concealing a giggle. "Don't do this; you don't have to show any sympathy?"

"Sympathy? What are you talking about?" Itachi asked a slight tone of laughter in his voice. "You think that I'm doing this because I feel sorry for you? There are different reasons, and there is no way that I would ever feel sorry for you… you've got too much for my pity."

Black eyes stared blankly at him, his breathing becoming almost silent. "What the hell are you talking about? Tell me…"

"I don't have to," Itachi taunted flatly.

Sasuke sighed. "I'm being a bother again aren't I? Are you going to flick my forehead and make stupid excuses? Or are you just going to sit on the edge of my bed and not show any emotion toward the subject," sheets rustled from the shifting of his weight. "Why are you really after me? It's more than the nine-tails. You want more from me."

Itachi stroked Sasuke's face. "You're too young to understand what I'm going through right now; you don't know why I have to get you on my side. You're my only hope."

Their lips met again, Sasuke was holding back all resistance returning the kiss fully his own tongue passing through the threshold of Itachi's lips. The bed creaked as Itachi moved on top of Sasuke pushing some of the breath from his lungs. And with a moan Sasuke felt his body let go, starting to surrender and for once he didn't care. For this moment there was nothing. There was no revenge. It was like the Itachi that he loved was back in his arms.

An unchaste hand moved up Sasuke's shirt stroking the flesh of his abdomen, it was electrifying. There was something that told him to stop before he got too into it, yet the churning desire in his brain was telling him that he wanted that hand right there. He didn't want it to back away to leave him alone, he wanted to feel him the way that he couldn't that night.

_I'm sick; I'm enjoying the company of my rapist. _He moaned loudly kissing at the flesh of Itachi's neck. _But I'm drawn to him. I can't help but wonder what I can get out of him; _a moan left Itachi's lips. _Maybe he didn't make his personality up._

His hand moved to caress Itachi's face, sweat running down his skin as he felt his body temperature start to soar. He was getting lost in the daze, not able to find a way through the misty horizon. He gave in, moaning loudly, wanting more than he ever had before. _Am I attracted to the man that I want to kill?_

Just as he felt as though it was going to get out of hand, the door swung open, someone was here to save Sasuke. As his onyx eyes looked up he saw that it was Kakashi with a cross look on his face. _Why now?_

"Get away from him," Kakashi cursed, his voice rigid.

Itachi lifted from Sasuke hearing a moan of disproval. "I thought you got lost for a second, I've been waiting for you, Kakashi. I think you saw what happened to those ANBU guards outside, they were less than formidable."

Kakashi moved his hand to his forehead protector. "Itachi Uchiha, the ninja who slew the whole Uchiha clan in a single night, the ninja who raped his brother and left him to die," he moved it over revealing his sharingan. "That ninja going to die."

Itachi laughed standing up. "You dare challenge me? How bold, Kakashi."

"Damn brat," Kakashi sneered.

"Stubborn old man," Itachi laughed his hand moving for the handle of his sword his eyes looking straight into Kakashi's. "You're courage is making you cocky. You really think that you have a hold on Sasuke that I haven't made yet?"

Kakashi pulled out a kunai. "Sasuke will die before he does anything for you."

"You give yourself too much credit," he drew his sword. "You're right though, it does end here, Kakashi, it ends for _you_. You won't make a single mark on me; you won't even touch me with that kunai."

Kakashi took a step forward. "Itachi…"

"Kakashi…" Itachi countered his step.

Sasuke was forced to watch as the two of them ran up to each other, hate in their eyes as they held tightly onto their weapons. He closed his eyes as he heard the crash of metal up against each other. _Itachi! _Looking through semi-opened eyes lids he saw a sight that he never thought he would see. A katana and a kunai were up against one another, the katana winning by a landslide, almost cutting at Kakashi's shoulder.

"Keep away from my student!" Kakashi snapped, in a cursing tone.

"Keep away from my brother," Itachi stated, the clam tone of his voice almost disappearing.

Sasuke sat up, hearing the crashes of metal as they fought against one another, trying to make futile hits. _If they can both predict other people's moves, why are they even bothering with this? _They moved closer to the window, metal still clashing as their breathing became heavy.

"I wouldn't use any of your signature moves, Kakashi," Itachi cursed pushing harder against the sword, loosening Kakashi's grip on his own weapon. "I'll copy them and use them as my own. No matter what you do you can't win. You can't even handle the amount of force I exert for my attacks."

The pushing became stronger, the katana moving toward Itachi's body breath becoming ragged. It was his broken ribs; he was pushing himself to hard, putting too much chakra into the sword to produce more damage, at this rate Itachi was going to fall.

"Itachi!" Sasuke warned his voice on the border of being a scream. "Watch out!"

A punch was administered to Itachi's face his body falling back, hearing Sasuke shriek his name trying to get out of bed. Blood ran from his lips as he laid face down hiding himself from his opponent hearing Sasuke starting to disconnect his wires again.

"No, Sasuke, stay in bed," Itachi begged getting back up to his feet.

Sasuke disconnected the EKG. "No, I'm not going to let him hurt you. Stop holding back, Itachi, you're better than this. Are you trying to disgrace my dream by being easy to beat now when I couldn't even do it by the river?"

"I haven't even started," Itachi breathed, wiping the blood from his lips hearing Kakashi walk up behind him. "You'll see what I really can do, Kakashi, you're going to pay for what you just did."

A hand wrapped around his ponytail pulling at him. "_Really_ Itachi?" he pulled harder hearing Itachi scream out in protest. "I told myself that I would never allow myself to watch an Uchiha die again, but now, I'm going to make an exception just for you."

Itachi spat, blood falling to the floor. "I'd like to see you try…"

"Maybe I will…" his words were cut off as he felt a sharp pain. "What the…" he turned to look behind him seeing Itachi right behind him a kunai buried in his shoulder. "But you… you're right there. How? How did you?"

Itachi laughed, blood running from his lips onto the ground. "Shadow Clones… I thought you would be able to make this one out," he looked over at Sasuke. "It's going to be alright, Sasuke, he didn't hurt me. He can't even recognize a simple jutsu."

Kakashi pulled on his hair tighter. "You're not going to get out of this one. I have you right where I want you and you're not getting out of this one alive." He adjusted his body his foot rested up against Itachi's back. "This one is the real you, and now you die…"

Sasuke felt hate fill his body. "Kakashi! Stay out of this! His life is mine!"

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but I'm not going to let him go," the jounin breathed pulling Itachi's hair tighter. "And who would have thought that your hair would be the weakness that brought you down?"

Itachi let out a low breath as his hand reached for the dropped kunai. "You give me no choice, Kakashi… sacrifices must he made."

_Is he going to kill Kakashi? _Sasuke asked watching the kunai moved to his ponytail. "I-Itachi?"

Red eyes closed tightly as he moved the knife back to touch the edge of his hair, his lips curling into a sadistic smile. Something was going wrong. The kunai moved up to Kakashi's wrist as Itachi closed his eyes tighter still, chuckling as he felt small droplets of blood run down his neck.

"I hope you'll, make this one sacrifice for your student," he sliced along Kakashi's hand feeling more blood run down his neck, releasing a moan as the jounin's breathing became labored. "I love it when you bleed."

Scarlet liquid dripped to the ground as Kakashi back up hitting the clone behind him, arms wrapping around him tightly. He was stuck. There wasn't a prayer for him now as the clone held onto him tighter, the real Itachi walking toward him, blood sickeningly running from his lips, the stained katana in his hand.

"You thought you could stop me," he cocked his head to the side. "Tell me one thing, Kakashi. How did you find me?"

"Your scent," Kakashi answered. "The smell of jasmine isn't a common aroma in a hospital, especially on an ANBU guard," he tried to break free feeling the clone pull him closer. "My question now: why are you here?"

"I'm here for Sasuke," Itachi breathed his fingers trailing through the blood on his lips, wiping it off of his face.

"What are your intentions with him? Were you intending to continue what you did down by the river? Itachi, leave him out of this, this is between you and me."

"But you never do satisfy me," the younger ninja snickered. "You were always too weak, Kakashi, I got more of a fight out of your student. Then again I guess he's better than you because he's an heir of the sharingan. He didn't steal his."

"I don't know what they told you," Kakashi argued.

Itachi moved closer still. "You're only famous because you took that from a member of Sasuke's clan. Do you think you should feel proud for having something that was given to you that only first come to surface from a near death experience? When you look into my eyes you should see the pain that I had to go through to obtain them. The sharingan, no matter what stage it's in, is about self sacrifice."

Sasuke looked away. "Itachi…"

The criminal walked closer to Kakashi. "I was a master at the sharingan when I was eight; I had my near death experience as a young child. Do you know how unlucky I am to have almost died to get my kekkei genkai?"

There was a slight silence as they looked at each other. "My condolences for your pain, but I don't show you any sympathy. Look what you did with your power; you killed your best friend. You killed your family. You almost killed your brother. You killed everything that you cared about."

"And you think that fazes me?" Itachi asked his eyes narrowing.

"It does, you feel guilt for all that you did. That's why you came back to Sasuke, and that's why you're wearing perfume. You feel that all of the wrongs that you've done weren't necessary. You're punishing yourself, cursing yourself on the inside."

Silence, just like the silence right before he struck by the river. Red eyes looked up at Kakashi as he got a better hold on his katana. In those red irises, there was nothing but bloodshed, there was no remorse.

"It's just become necessary for you to die here, Kakashi. You're spreading these lies to Sasuke making him try to find a weakness in my mind. I have no weaknesses and to prove that fact, I'm going to use more of my chakra to put you in your place," he grabbed Kakashi by the neck hearing him gag. "Look into my eyes and say that again. Say that I feel sorry for my actions. Say that I'm weak. Tell him that he can take me out by just saying those lies," he smiled as water ran from his eyes, his voice tight. "Look into my eyes, Kakashi Hatake."

_He's straining himself; his body is starting to use greater amounts of chakra than the sword techniques and the Shadow Clone. He's going to use mangekyou sharingan. No, that's way too much;_ Sasuke sat up trying to still get out of bed. "No, Itachi! Your body's too weak."

Itachi let out wince of pain as he looked deeper into Kakashi's eyes. "You'll see the true power of the sharingan. No doubt you've heard what happens when a person with the kekkei genkai gives up the life of that closest to him."

Kakashi refused to look into his eyes. "Mangekyou sharingan."

"With that level of power comes Tsukuyomi; no genjutsu that you can even dream of can match it. Ninjutsu is worthless, there's no way that you can resist me. Look into my eyes, Kakashi, look and see your horrible fate."

Sasuke watched as they looked into each other's eyes hearing breath coming harder from Kakashi's body, his whole physical being shaking with every moment that passed. "Itachi?"

"I need absolute concentration, S-Sasuke," Itachi breathed trying his hardest to keep his eyes completely open, a rivulet of blood running from his nose, the lack of chakra almost causing them to close. "Stay out of this."

Sasuke did as he was told and sat on the side watching as his sensei writhed in pain from his brother's attack, but he wasn't as focused on Kakashi as he was on Itachi. He was almost defeated right there and if he didn't have the assistance of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. As a price, he only had energy at the time to risk enough chakra to make one clone. _This is all a trick, he's holding back. I know how he operates; he's giving me false hope so I will go to him. He strongly believes this will work._

Itachi closed his eyes letting out a low moan, letting Kakashi free from it. What the hell is going on? What happened to his chakra?

"Out of chakra?" Kakashi asked weakly as he fell to his knees. "Looks like you used it all too fast, or maybe you're just surprised that I can keep you out of my head."

"Actually…" Itachi breathed moving to Kakashi's ear. "Can you keep a secret, Kakashi?" The jounin looked opened his eyes wide as he heard the words pass from Itachi's lips. "I've been holding back."

"Fight like a man," Kakashi whispered. "I'm not just going to let you go, nor am I going to let you take Sasuke, no matter how much you hold back. Are you saving chakra? If so, what for, this fight is over."

Itachi turned Kakashi's head to the side resting his nose up against his, looking into his eyes again. "It _is_ over, Kakashi, but you're not going to win this one. You're going to fall right here, right in front of your student."

They looked into each other's eyes again, both of them breathing heavy for only a few seconds like before, Kakashi's body was shaking violently in Itachi's arms not able to move his eyes from his glance.

"Now give up," Itachi caught Kakashi's body in his arms.

Sasuke gasped as his brother closed his eyes, reopening them revealing the same black eyes that he saw years ago. _He really is using too much; his weakened body can't take it. If he used anymore chakra, he could have put himself into cardiac arrest._

"Sasuke…" Itachi panted turning to him. "You see what kinds of power you could have if you obtain these eyes."

"I could be covered in sweat to, barely able to use anymore chakra?" Sasuke rolled his eyes seriousness coming back quickly. "You were holding back the whole time, Itachi?"

Itachi's legs were shaking as he struggled to his feet his eyes closed tightly. "A ninja knows not to overexert his body when he's already in physical distress. You took more than you thought you did when you punched me in the ribs, you disrupted my chakra flow," a light cough, traces of blood falling to his fingertips. "My body's off balance, and the more energy I exert the harder I breathe, the more the broken bones push onto my lungs."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I didn't destroy you that night. No more tricks, no more mind games, tell me the truth."

"You disrupted me," Itachi winced looking down at Kakashi. "And he knew that the moment that he first looked into my eyes. He was trying to push me out knowing that I would have to use more chakra. He was swaiting for the right moment to use Lightening Blade on me," more blood ran from his lips as he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "But I won't die that easily, Sasuke."

"We'll see about that," the young boy scowled.

"Don't get cocky," Itachi breathed. "When I was down there fighting your sensei you were asking if I was going to be alright. Sasuke, I know how you feel right now. You're lost; you don't know whether to hate me or to accept that I'm part of you."

"I hate you!" Sasuke hissed as Itachi got closer.

"You don't mean that," he connected the wires to Sasuke's chest the beeping starting up again. "You're hate for me is still not strong enough. You're still that little boy begging me not to kill you, and you hide it horribly. You don't hate me, you fear me. There's a big difference," he kissed Sasuke's lips lightly. "And we accept our fears once we realize that they aren't so bad. Bottom line: you want me."

Footsteps could be heard coming toward the door, more people were coming. Why? Why were they coming for Itachi now when he barely had anything to fight with? He was gathering all of the scattered parts of his ninja repertoire.

"They're back for him are they?" Itachi asked looking at Sasuke. "Don't forget our deal. I'll come for you as soon as you get out to give you more details." He kissed him on the cheek. "I'll come for you, I promise."

The door swung open and there stood the other three jounin. "Itachi Uchiha, so Kakashi wasn't lying about this."

Itachi turned to them as he put his mask back on hiding his face. "Asuma Sarutobi, what is a person of such high station doing here?" he looked at the blood running down his face. "What happened to you?"

"That's none of your concern," Gai hissed as he looked down at a lifeless body on the ground. "K-Kakashi?" he fell to his knees next to the body. "You bastard!" he looked up at Itachi. "You bastard! What the hell did you do?"

The young ninja looked at all of them. "He was lucky to face the fate that he did; I've done worse."

Asuma walked forward. "What is your intention? War or peace?"

"I didn't come here to start a war, nor did I come here to get all of you involved, I came here because that boy on that hospital bed means something to me, something of interest," he took the mask off looking at Sasuke

"Why are you here?" Gai asked holding onto Kakashi's hand. "Who the hell do you work for you damn brat!"

Itachi laughed lightly. "I don't think I'm obligated to answer that, this has nothing to do with any of you. If you let me go you all can leave with your lives, get involved and you will face the same face as the ANBU guards."

Asuma looked at Kurenai and then his glance went back to Itachi. "You promise that you won't hurt us if we don't get involved."

"Asuma!" Gai yelled in disbelief.

Itachi nodded. "I'm a man of my word."

The room was silent as Itachi back up to the window looking over at Sasuke the room growing cold from his stare. The window was opened the wind going through the atmosphere making Sasuke shiver watching him move forward over to his bed.

"Keep away from him!" Gai yelled not leaving Kakashi's side.

Itachi's breath was on Sasuke's lips. "I'm not coming back here. I'll find you Sasuke, I promise, and I swear that I'm not going to repeat what happened a week ago." He kissed him lightly, tenderly stroking his hair.

"How long will you wait?" Sasuke asked quietly the adults not hearing.

"Forever," the older brother answered as he walked away toward the window looking at the jounin. "You're a smart man, Asuma, thank you for showing mercy. For now I'm going to show everyone in this room that same mercy, but when we meet again we start fresh. Don't mess with me…"

_Crash! _The window smashed open Itachi's body going through the broken glass traces of blood on the edges of the shards. He was gone the words that he said to Sasuke rolling through his head. _"You are too young to understand what I'm going through right now; you don't know why I have to get you on my side. You're my only hope."_

Reality kicked back in as he saw Gai hold onto Kakashi's unconscious body his eyes closed. This was the aftermath of Itachi's onslaught. Kakashi shouldn't have gotten involved, if he had only stayed at the front of the hospital with the ANBU guards, he would still be here. This wouldn't have happened.

"Kakashi," Gai whispered burying his face in Kakashi's idle chest. "Kakashi…"

His last words roamed through Asuma's head as he closed his eyes bowing his head. _"Then I'm going to have to make you stay, even if I have to break you arms and legs. I'm sorry, Asuma."_

"Kakashi," Asuma whispered thinking of Kakashi absolute last word to his last question: jasmine. The God awful smell filled the room as they continued crowding around Kakashi, the sound of screaming ANBU guards was heard outside.

A single tear fell down Sasuke's cheek. "What have I done?"

He looked out the window at the bloody glass, the rain washing the crimson away as the thunder sounding throughout the sky. How did he let this happen to his sensei? Was he was on the opposing side the whole battle? He lost him just to make that deal. _"I swear nothing will happen to you, Sasuke." _That was all a lie, wasn't it? Itachi lied to him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **No ANBU were hurt in the writing of this chapter. And to all Kakashi fans, I didn't mean to offend you, I didn't do this to him because I hate him, I like Kakashi. Today is also Sakura's birthday (too bad this is a Sakura free chapter). Any comments on this chapter? Good? Bad? Infuriated becasue I killed ANBU? Honesty is always a bonus. 

Next chapter Team 10 makes a cameo and it goes into more depth about Sasuke's views on the ItaSasu relationship, but it will be another Itachi-less chapter (he should be back in Chapter 6, Chapter 8 for sure).


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Naruto

**Warnings:** This chapter contains coarse language, subjects containing death, blood, yaoi incestious thoughts, skewed thoughts on rape, blood, OOC, and the canon is not really a huge factor (still more so in later chapters). This is also a long chapter, not as long as four, but longer than one, two, and three. There are also some errors in here that I didn't pick up.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight SasuSaku, slight SasuNaru, traces of AsuKure, a pinch of GaiKaka

* * *

Rain still fell up against the window; it took the hospital two days to replace the glass, keeping the cold out. His temperature had gone up; they said that he had caught an infection. It was a small cold, but on top of his already swollen lungs it was getting severe. He had been put on oxygen during nights again as they tried to keep him warm to destroy all chances of further infection.

The infection was the least of his problems, it had been almost two weeks in the hospital now and everyday that passed by all he could think about was Itachi. The way that he fought with Kakashi, the way he was losing the battle from the beginning. Blood, the blood that he wanted to spill still stained his sheets the sound of coughing echoing in his ears.

_Are they ever going to clean that up? _He looked at the blood remembering, the look on his face as he bled, the ragged way that he was breathing. _I killed my brother, I took everything from him. I finally did it._

Everything was going his way these days, he got his dream, he did get to kill him once and for all. Itachi wasn't all there anymore, his monstrous persona and real self conflicting. The harder Sasuke tried to find reason for that night, the more that he found that Itachi was getting further from redemption. There was no saving him now.

Attention was drawn from his thoughts as the door opened his teammates walking in. They came in to him ever since they heard about what happened, since Itachi had managed to get into there.

"Good morning Sasuke," Sakura greeted calmly as she walked forward. "How are you today?"

He looked up at them almost seeming not interested. "You're back…"

"We're a team," she continued as they pulled two chairs to his side. "They told us that you were contagious and that we shouldn't be coming in here to talk to you."

"It's just a cold," his voice trailed off as he looked at the window. "It's still raining. So peaceful, yet so tragic," he saw the look in Sakura's eyes knowing what she was thinking. "Do you think that it's because of what happened to Kakashi?"

She gasped as she closed her eyes as well. "It's depressing what happened to him… I hear that your brother came in here to capture you and Kakashi was the one who stopped him." There was a small silence. "I'm sorry that we weren't there for you."

"It wasn't your fault," he took a breath. "Even if you were here, he would have just taken you two as well. He has a mission, and nothing will stop him. Kakashi was an example for what was happening to all of us if we get in his way. And I was an example for those who stand up to him."

Sobbing filled his ears as he looked over at her seeing her start to breakdown, his heart was sinking in his chest. How could he do this to her? She only cared about him and all he did was try to push her away. She should hate him for that.

"Sakura," he took her hand gently. "It's alright; they're going to try to mend my wounds inside today."

She closed her eyes. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"You want me to get better don't you?" he ignored Naruto who was sitting next to her as he looked into her eyes. "Do you want me to be in the hospital forever?"

She shook her head. "I want you to feel alive again."

"Sakura," Sasuke breathed. "I am alive, just a little broken."

"I want you to be whole," she breathed holding his hand tighter.

"I am whole," he consoled. "He didn't break me. I don't break as easily as you think, Sakura; it's going to take more than a few minutes of torturous sex to make me want to end my life," his hand held hers tighter. "Don't worry; I'm going to be alright."

She smiled holding his hand tighter. "Sasuke, you don't need to be brave."

"I'm not being brave; I want you to understand that you don't have to worry about me. I'm alive, that's all that counts in the end," he moved her hand over his chest. "See… nothing's going to happen."

Naruto's blue eyes widened as he watched his two teammates making heavy eye contact. "Sasuke… I guess you're starting to feel a little better. Even though I hear you're still feeling pains in your ass."

"You moron," Sasuke sneered, rolling his eyes trying not to make any sort of contact with his colleague. "You are the only pain in my ass, clumsy idiot."

"Bastard," Naruto said as he looked over at Sakura. "He's still the same Sasuke that I know and loathe. Same self-centered prick that I always hated." He smiled. "And my best friend."

Sasuke smiled slightly. "And you're the same too, you total moron."

Sakura giggled as she looked at the two of them. "You two are getting along well, the best that I've ever seen you like this."

_Because I died,_ he looked out the window. "They say I'm going to be on oxygen for the rest of the day. Every time that they try to do this to me, I go into respiratory arrest," he looked at them. "I don't want you in here during the procedure. After all of it's over you can sit by my side if you want to. I just won't talk to you."

Sakura smiled wider. "You mean, you don't mind us in here after they're done repairing the broken tissue."

"They said that they'll let me out at the end of the week if this works correctly, if I can walk again that is," he leaned back taking a deep breath. "Try not to make a big deal out of this, my mind… it's not in the right state."

The words that Kakashi said about his brother were fresh in his mind. _"You feel guilt for all that you did, that's why you came back to Sasuke, and that's why you're wearing perfume. You feel that all of the wrongs that you did were not necessary and you're punishing yourself."_

Sasuke's eyes closed as he started to breathe heavily. "I watched what happened to Kakashi, and I couldn't even lift a finger to help him. The whole time I was on this bed just watching what was going on. I was too weak to do anything to stop him again."

As the two were going to say something when the door opened a doctor walking toward the bed, Sasuke's eyes opening. The time was here, they were going to start the treatment again.

"Good morning Sasuke, how are you feeling today?" the doctor asked checking the EKG, not looking at him.

"I'm feeling fine," Sasuke answered as they handed him a cup of pills.

The doctor smiled. "How's you breathing today? Any pains? Has it become easier than it was the first time we tried?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm completely numb."

Sakura stood up along with Naruto walking toward the door. Sasuke was on his own for this one without his teammates to help him through this. The pain was going to be greater than anything he had ever experienced. He looked into the cup at the painkillers foreseeing the same pain that he had experienced before. His breath was already catching in his throat.

"You know how this works, if it hurts just tell me and I'll stop."

Sasuke poured the pills into his mouth swallowing them quickly closing his eyes as his pants were pulled down. _Please God… make this quick_. He closed his eyes tighter remembering what his brother had done to him. He was going through this because of him. _Please make it quick, not like the last time._

-----

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Sakura asked as they sat in the chairs that were set up outside the room. They could hear his pants and winces as the doctor drove in deeper into Sasuke's body, his torn flesh being stretched. "He sounds awful."

Naruto looked at the ground as he heard the first scream leave the room, his eyes closing tightly. It all was going back to that night when he was walking home, the same screams that filled the air that cold night. But these were different; they were strained as he was choking on his own throat.

"Naruto," Sakura whispered moving closer to him.

He looked up at her. "I'm not scared for him; Sasuke's going to make it through." He heard another scream come out of the room. "He's strong."

"It hurts!"

Naruto closed his eyes tightly as he tried to block out the screams seeping through his best friend's lips imagining what was going on in there. He could see the sweat running down his pale skin as he squeezed tighter onto the sheets of the hospital bed, the water that ran down his cheeks washing away the blood from his lips, it was a horrifying sight. Opening his eyes, he tried to get images out of his mind, but the screams only augmented them more.

"It hurts…" his voice was getting weaker with every breath escaping his lips.

"Sasuke…" Naruto breathed burying his face in his hands. "Will they stop that? Can't they see that they're hurting him?" his voice became low as Sasuke let out another groan of pain. "It sounds like he can barely even breathe."

Sakura looked at the door. "He did say that it was going to hurt, he also said that if they're successful he'll be able to start trying to walk sooner."

"I know, Sakura," Naruto breathed as he tried to block out the screams from Sasuke's room. "But does he have to go through all of that?"

"It's the only way," she answered quietly trying to hide her tears.

"There has to be something they can do that doesn't have a risk of killing him, he went into respiratory arrest last time" he continued. "Those screams…"

"Block them out," she answered closing her eyes, her voice condescending. "If you don't want to hear them then block them out, Naruto."

His blue eyes widened. "You can block those out? You can block out those heart wrenching screams?" he shook his head looking at the door. "You have more willpower then I do. Maybe it's the guilt."

"He said it wasn't your fault," Sakura answered. "He admitted that it was his. There was nothing that we could have done to stop Itachi. We would have gotten hurt as well. Or are you forgetting what happened to Kakashi-sensei?"

Screams filled the hallway as the two looked at each other. Why were they still sitting there? They could have left the hall by now. But the doctors said it was best for them to stay out there in case Sasuke needed them.

"I can't breathe!"

Blue eyes closed tighter, the words were intelligible now, not just murmurs that he tried to ignore. He could hear the sounds. His eyes closed tighter as he tried to escape from reality.

"I-I-I can't b-breathe! Stop it!"

Naruto stood up looking at the door. "Damn it," he whispered touching the hard surface as more sounds seeped out. "Are they tearing him in half in there?"

"They're opening up bruised muscles and broken skin," she answered. "There are some severe wounds inside of his body, that's where he lost the most blood. They have to close the wounds and see in there is any way that they can repair everything."

"That bastard Itachi Uchiha, he's going to die," Naruto hissed as he heard another scream come out of the door followed by a series of coughs. _Is he going into respiratory arrest like he said he would? Not again!_

"It will only take a few seconds, Sasuke calm down."

"S-stop it!"

The coughing continued, then it transformed into a gagging sound. "He can't breathe…" Naruto whispered, clenching his fist.

Sakura looked at the door. "Why don't they stop?"

The gagging stopped as the beeping of the EKG halted, one single beep. It echoed through the hospital. The two of them froze in place, wide eyed. Was that the sound of Sasuke's heart stopping in his chest? Cardiac arrest.

"We're losing him!" the doctor cried out as another group of doctors entered the room. "He's in cardiac arrest."

Through the crack in the door they could see Sasuke on the bed, his black eyes opened as a thick trail of saliva rolled down his chin, blood falling from his nose. Was what death looked like? A weak twelve-year-old boy on a hospital bed falling further into the deep hole of darkness, the afterlife claiming his life, was that death?

"_Don't die… promise me that you're going to come out of this all alive. If you think about dying before I do… if you even think about it, I'll… I'll hate you more than I already do you bastard."_

"Sasuke…" Naruto breathed as he looked into the doorway.

"_I'll live up to your promise."_

Naruto looked into the doorway whispered cold soft words. "You lied to me you bastard, you lied to me! You promised me you wouldn't die… and now you're leaving me? No, I'm not going to let you get off easy…"

"Clear," electricity surged through Sasuke's body. "He doesn't have a pulse."

Sakura's voice turned into a sob as she looked into the crack of the door, her whole body shaking violently. The rain hit harder up against the window as they tried to start his heart again, the sound of the harmonic beep still going through the air.

_She shouldn't be watching this, _he thought as he looked over at her. "Sakura, do you want to go get some fresh air."

Her breath was shaking as the doctors tried a second time to start his body again. "We're a team of three; we're one, just like Kakashi-sensei said. We aren't going to abandon him in this critical time. He needs us here even if we do lose him."

"Losing him is not an option!" Naruto answered quickly as he saw the doctors looking at the EKG. _Are they done? Are they going to ask the time of death?_

The doctors looked down at Sasuke's body their hand moving to close his eyes. "Time of death?" one asked.

"Eleven o' clock," another said. "Should we get the morgue in here?"

Naruto looked over at Sakura who was staring in disbelief. "S-Sasuke? Naruto… is Sasuke…?" she shook her head. "Did we just? Is he…? Is he…?!" she buried her face in her hands. "Sasuke!" she ran through the open door. "Sasuke!"

"Sakura," Naruto grabbed her wrist. "It's going to be alright. Everything's going to be alright, Sakura."

"You just watched your best friend die and you think it's going to be alright?" she asked as they started to leave the room. Her eyes were broken as she looked over at Sasuke's lifeless body, this wasn't a joke, he was actually dead. "Sasuke…"

The doctors stepped out of the room as they heard one statement. "Get back in here… you're not done…"

The group turned around to look at him. "We're sorry about your friend but there's nothing that we can do. We repaired the tissue, stopped the bleeding, but the pain was too much for him to bear, his body just gave out on him."

Naruto turned away from them. "Then I'll do it…"

"Stop it!" Sakura argued. "You think that you can bring him back just with your words? They said his body wouldn't be able to take it, they said that his body wasn't able to take it because he was too weak. Nothing you can do can bring him back. You're not God, Naruto!" she sobbed loudly. "You're just annoying."

The blond moved to Sasuke's body looking down at him. "You said that you wouldn't die on me, you lied to me, Sasuke Uchiha. You lied to me," he slapped him across the face. "You're going to come back to me… you made a promise, Sasuke; you said you wouldn't die on me. You said that you'd stay alive if I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to you." he stroked his face. "We n-never did get to see who was better. And I hated you for that. And I hate you even more now… I hate you, you lying prick!"

The doctors walked over to him. "You should leave now…"

"No…" Naruto answered, his voice shaking. "He's going to make it through this. Just try to do it two more times."

"Stop it!" Sakura screamed. "Stop trying to be the hero, Naruto, let him die with some dignity. Don't make them do anymore than they have to and just let him go, Naruto, let him go."

"I thought you liked him," Naruto huffed.

"I like him enough to know that he wants to die with honor," Sakura rebutted.

Naruto shook his head. "You call this honor? Do you think this is what he wants, Sakura? To die on a hospital bed because he couldn't stop Itachi. The Sasuke that I know wouldn't let that happen, no he would keep on fighting. He'd still be here."

The doctors walked back in. "You two should leave."

"Do it one more time," Naruto begged stroking Sasuke's sweat soaked face. "If it doesn't work, I'll let him go. Just do it one last time for me. Please try to bring him back. Please, just one more time."

Sakura shook her head. "It won't work, he's gone, Naruto."

Naruto watched in anticipation as the doctors moved the paddles back to his side. "You're going to need to back away."

He did as he was told backing a good distance away from the lifeless body that he had once in life called his best friend. The room filled with the charging of the paddles, Naruto's own heart stopping in his own chest. _Please, Sasuke, stop being a bastard and come back here._ The sound of the flat lining EKG was still in his ears as he watched the cool paddles be pushed up against his chest. _Please._

"Clear," the wave of electricity was sent through his chest, his body moving to the energy. Complete silence filled the room as a tear rolled down Naruto's cheek. Guilt filled his whole being as he looked at Sasuke's body moving closer. Extending a shaking hand he took Sasuke's limp fingers into his own. A tear fell from his eyes, the whole world being blocked out. He was gone.

_Beep. _He looked up at the EKG seeing movement in the wavelength. His heart was beating again, they brought him back a successfully. "Sasuke?" Naruto asked holding onto the hand tighter. "Sasuke!" he buried his face in his chest feeling his low heartbeat up against his skin. "Sakura… I told you it would work. Sasuke!"

She moved to Sasuke's side with a smile on her face touching his forehead. "You were right, he only needed one more. But how did you…?"

"I guessed," Naruto smiled staying up against Sasuke's chest. "But I knew he would be able to make it. He's too strong to die. The fight he must have gone through to get back to the other side, it must have been intense."

"Dying twice in less than a month is intense," she whispered resting in the crook of his neck hearing his start to breathe again. "Yet he's so peaceful, to think that he's been through all of the pain just to get out of here. How does he do it?"

Naruto looked up at Sasuke's face seeing the color starting to return, his lips opening slightly to let more air into his swollen lungs. "He's lucky. He's cheated death twice now, and he's going to come out alright. He got his life back"

Sakura kissed Sasuke lightly on the cheek even though she knew that Naruto could see. "He _is_ pretty lucky, isn't he? But next time, he's not going to have you to force the doctors to try it one last time." A tear fell from her eyes onto Sasuke's lips. "You saved his life, Naruto. Thank you."

He looked out the window seeing the rain continuing to fall. "I guess that put one of our fears to rest; he's not going to have to go through that much pain ever again. He's going to be alright now, Sakura. He's going to live."

She heard him cough lightly. "What makes you so sure?"

He looked back at her. "He promised me that he was going to make it out of here. I'm not going to let him go through life not even able to destroy the only person that he's ever hated. Sasuke's going to destroy Itachi, the one who made him go through that much pain."

She held Sasuke's body tighter. "Do you think that he can do it?"

"I have faith," Naruto answered. "What would Kakashi-sensei want us to do?"

The two of them sat on either side of their fallen colleague looking down at him. "He looks so peaceful." Sakura stated.

"Let's hope he stays that way," he continued. "I don't want him to change into another person even if he had outsmarted death twice. I want him to be the same Sasuke that we always knew. The same uptight jerk that we've come to love."

"He won't change," Sakura answered. "He hasn't yet."

The rain still continued to pour down onto the window as they looked over at the glass. It was still depressing, was it all for Kakashi and Sasuke. Was it symbolism that one of them was going to leave them? No, they were going to be alright, they were going to come out fine. Sasuke's breathing was starting to become steady as he moved over to Sakura, craving her heat.

"He's moving," Sakura smiled stroking Sasuke's face. "He really is alive."

Naruto looked out the window. _I'm glad to hear it, but what about Kakashi? _He walked closer to the window looking down to the very spot that Itachi landed at; the guards that were guarding the entrance were killed almost instantly. Kakashi was supposed to be down there with Asuma, but they left their posts. One mistake lead to the very destruction of Kakashi, one mistake lead to Sasuke's internal wounds opening up, one mistake lead to how him and Sakura were in here. Why would they let Itachi into the building in the first place? He was the only one they were supposed to be watching for.

The rain continued to fall as Sasuke was gently fighting his lungs with every breath. When was the pain going to end? When was Itachi's lust going to be fulfilled? But most importantly, what did he want?

_Does he want me? _Naruto asked as he leaned up against the glass. _Am I the reason for all of this pain? Sasuke would tell me, wouldn't he? _His eyes closed tightly as he was in deep thought. _Wouldn't he?_

-----

"He's in a coma," the doctor stated. "We can barely get any brain waves from him. Whatever happened to him in there, it caused heavy psychological damage. The likeliness of him coming about anytime soon is decreasing," he connected the EKG. "We're taking special precautions to make sure that the rest of his body didn't take that hard of a hit, there are some risks that being a comatose state have on him."

Asuma nodded. "Thank you, doctor; I can't explain how grateful we are that you were able to take him in on such short notice. The Hokage is pleased to hear that there was enough space."

"It's an honor to help a Konoha jounin," the doctor smiled bowing to Asuma. "If there is anything that you need don't be afraid to ask, and if he does wake up please inform one of us."

"I will," Asuma continued as the doctor left the room, he looked over into the corner where Kurenai was standing. "I could have avoided this you know. I was right there when it all happened. I was so close to stopping him."

She walked forward looking at the ground. "Asuma, there was nothing you could have done; nothing was going to stop him from saving Sasuke."

"I could have tried," he sighed. "But I can't allow Itachi to hurt anymore people; I don't want to get involved in this, nor do I want you to."

She closed her eyes sitting down next to him. "Kakashi's going to get out of this."

"He used Tsukuyomi, the strongest genjutsu technique that I've ever heard of. Who knows what he had to see, no doubt the death of Sasuke over and over again to see how much of it he could take. His fear was always watching another one of his teammates die," Asuma coughed lightly. "All I know is that I understand the brat's pain now, broken ribs hurt like hell."

"You shouldn't strain yourself," Kurenai warned. "An injury that bad could hinder your abilities. You're lucky that you didn't break your back after he pushed you down the stairs."

"That was his intention," Asuma stated bluntly. "I know he wanted to disable me so I couldn't go any further in the hospital. He wanted to take Itachi on by himself. He didn't want me to get involved in this." He winced in pain. "Damn it, he really did a number on my body."

She rested a hand on his lower ribcage looking straight at the touched spot. "If you keep thinking about the pain, it's only going to hurt more," she moved closer. "That was a smart move, letting Itachi go. Who knows what he would have done to Sasuke."

"_I didn't come here to start a war, nor did I come here to get all of you involved, I came here because that boy on that hospital bed means something to me, something of interest."_

"He said that he was interested in Sasuke, like the boy was going to do something for him," Kurenai continued as she looked into Asuma's eyes. "But then why would he hurt him? Do you usually torture the ones that are important to your cause?"

The room filled with silence as Asuma took a deep breath. "I don't know what he wants with Sasuke… but you saw what he did in the room right in front of us. Itachi kissed his brother… on the lips."

"There's something deeper going on with them, why else would he have sex with him?" Kurenai answered. "People usually don't kiss people like that unless there's some sexual attraction."

Asuma looked over at her laughing quietly. "You really are naïve."

She smiled back. "Why?"

"You really think that two brothers are in love?" he laughed again. "That's absurd. Why would two brothers that have been trying to kill each other for four years want each other? You really aren't thinking are you?"

She looked at Kakashi's body. "But what exactly was going on with the brothers when Kakashi came in? What did he see Itachi and Sasuke doing to one another? Is there really a hidden meaning to this, more than just the two of them trying to start something together?"

"Itachi said that Sasuke was of importance to him, meaning that there's something that the boy has to do to help him get what he wants, but what he wants is still unknown. What made him come back to the village knowing that he's a wanted criminal?" Asuma coughed lightly. "It doesn't make any sense. He knows that we'll go after him, yet he keeps on trying to get to Sasuke. What does the boy have that he wants?"

The beeping filled the room, as Asuma started coughing violently, blood spilling from his lips. Rain hit the window hard, the outside world all a blur as her eyes traveled to the blood that was coating his hand. The fall was worse than she thought. He wasn't in any condition for a battle with Itachi, his chakra flow was hindered.

"Maybe you should be in the hospital as well," she stated. "You're in no condition to be anywhere where Itachi Uchiha could strike."

"He's going through the same thing that I am, his ribs are broken as well," Asuma argued. "That's the only reason why Kakashi lasted so long; he could tell by his breathing that he was injured. His chakra control was fumbling as he was fighting him, his body going closer to death with every movement. It must have been hell to be in that situation while he was dying. And Sasuke had to watch."

Kurenai sighed. "He wants Itachi dead."

"You really think that?" Asuma asked looking into her eyes. "He had an opportunity in the hospital room. He passed up that opportunity and he let him go. If he wanted to kill him, he would have held him back right when he was kissing his lips, instead he let him do it. He doesn't want to kill him, Kurenai, he wants him in general. There's something going on between those brothers."

"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked.

"When you have feelings toward someone you try your hardest to keep them out of harm's way even when your position is on the line. He was aiding a traitor in there, he just sat back and watched Kakashi be destroyed," he took a breath closing his eyes. "When a person loves another, they will give anything to make sure that they're safe," he turned to her opening his eyes again. "That's why I let Itachi go, so he wouldn't lay a hand on you."

"I could've taken it," she answered.

"He's a tough opponent, he's jounin level. He's one of the toughest opponents from Konoha in the bingo book," he continued. "Kakashi can't even take him out which shows his exceptional skill. He was a child prodigy, mind you."

There was another silence as Asuma took Kakashi's hand looking at his unconscious body. Guilt. Self hatred. They all filled his mind as he gazed deeper at him. He could have been stopped, but Asuma was too weak to do anything about it. Kakashi wouldn't have let him get that far, he was lucky to only be pushed down the stairs, Itachi would have killed him.

The door swung open as another entered the room, it was Gai. He stayed silent, he rarely talked when Asuma was around, blaming him for what happened to Kakashi. He hated him for letting Itachi Uchiha go free after the numerous crimes he had committed in the last couple of days. He didn't understand how he could do that.

"Gai?" Asuma asked as the other jounin walked forward. "What are you doing here? I thought you said you weren't coming back."

Gai shrugged. "Like you care, traitor."

"I didn't betray anyone," Asuma answered standing up.

"You betrayed your village, you bastard!" Gai argued looking into Asuma's eyes. "He's a wanted man and you let him go? You let him go down there and steal the lives of countless ANBU guards."

"I was thinking about the well being of the village," Asuma argued.

"Those guards had families," Gai continued. "Not everyone can be the Hokage's son, Asuma. You have to stop thinking about yourself. Why do you only care about the higher people?"

"I saved us, you should thank me," Asuma argued taking a step forward.

"Thank you," Gai stated sarcastically. "Thank you for not helping Kakashi when he needed you. You left your post!"

"I tried to stop him, Gai. In case you didn't notice I'm in pain because of what he did. I can barely breathe, and with every breath my head only hurts more, but I refuse to give in. If I do, you're going to go after Itachi."

Gai shook his head. "I'm going after him anyway. He's a criminal charged for murder, rape, and assault. Those are crimes which will not be pardoned. He raped a twelve-year-old, Asuma. Are you going to still condone that?"

"If we go after him, he might hurt Sasuke even more," Asuma continued. "The boy has been through enough already and Itachi hasn't even started his torture yet. He gets worse as time goes on; he's going to kill him next."

"He's a sacrifice for the village," Gai muttered mocking Asuma.

"So were the guards," the Hokage's son retorted. "I'm out of here. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you lie about how I feel. Sasuke is not going to be sacrificed and neither is the village. Don't go searching for him if you know what's good for you."

"Itachi Uchiha will die," Gai continued.

"Don't touch him, the village won't allow it. Think of what's right and what's wrong," Asuma hissed breathing heavily, his breath jagged with pain. "Do you want to ruin the outlook on the village?"

Gai shook his head. "Fuck the village."

"Gai!" Asuma berated.

"Look at what it did for Kakashi, he's in a Goddamn coma and it's all the guards' fault," Gai yelled. "His brain is gone, his heartbeat is leaving, he's struggling for breath every second that goes by." He sat next to Kakashi's body on the bed holding his hand tightly. "Asuma, look what that bastard did to him, because he knew he was never going to be able to kill an Uchiha he was put into this state. Look what that son of a bitch did to him."

Asuma moved closer to the door. "Kakashi didn't want to get us involved in this. When are you going to understand death wishes?"

"When it seems like it's the right thing to do," Gai answered. "This doesn't seem right, and I swear I'll kill Itachi."

"Don't touch him," Asuma commanded.

"You're not the boss of me!" Gai hissed quickly.

"If you want to die, Gai, then go ahead," he opened the door walking out. "Find Itachi, I'll see you at your funeral." He moved out the door not even saying goodbye to either of them as Gai looked down at Kakashi.

"I'm not going to let you die in vain," Gai whispered. "I promise."

-----

Pain returned to his body as his onyx eyes opened to see his teammates sitting next to him on the bed. Their eyes were swollen with tears as they held his hand tightly, smiles on their faces. His eyes were clouded with the visions of the other side, the cold loneliness that was inside of the darkness. He took a deep breath as he held their hands back, hearing them gasp in shock

"Sasuke," Sakura breathed. "You're alright."

The vision of his surroundings became clear as he looked at them. There was a relishing feeling breath rolling into his lungs, to hear the beeping of the EKG. _I thought I was dead. I saw everything that I saw before. The clashes of the purple of the white lights, it was all rolling behind my eyes._ The beeping was louder as he fully came to, his consciousness returning.

"Welcome back," Sakura breathed looking straight into his eyes.

He looked around. "What the hell… why are you guys crying? What happened?"

She held his hand tighter her green eyes. "Oh Sasuke…" she was still crying, her voice low and shaking. "We thought… we thought that we lost you forever. Oh Sasuke, I thought you were dead."

Sasuke's eyes closed as he looked out the window. His brother, he didn't want to do this to him, he didn't want to kill him. The promise that his brother made all of the years ago, the same that Naruto had given him. He swore that he would never let anything happen to him. That included death.

The breath of those steamy nights all that time back during the thunderous noises of the nights. Warmth circulated through his body again. _No, one touch and I'm already going crazy with desire. _Water formed in his eyes, why was Itachi doing this to him? The nights way back when, when he held him tighter and tighter every night, pushing him deeper into his chest. Was his brother in love with him?

"_You're hate for me is still not strong enough. You're still that little kid begging me not to kill you. And you hide it horribly. You don't hate me, you fear me. There's a big difference. And we accept our fears once we realize that they aren't so bad."_

His lips were still pressed up against his in his mind, his breathing becoming ragged. Itachi was right there in his mind, right on top of him holding him tighter. Heat roiled harder as he looked at the blood on his sheets. _Itachi…_

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he touched Sasuke's face. "Are you alright? You're sweating."

"A-am I?" Sasuke asked looking at his teammates. "I'm just really tired, that's all. I'm tired, Naruto, don't worry about me. It's not like I'm dying."

"You've already died twice," Naruto continued. "The doctors are apologizing to the morgue for calling them right now. They called your time of death two hours ago, Sasuke, you were supposed to die right then and there. It's a miracle that you were able to come back."

Sasuke looked at Sakura avoiding Naruto's glance. "Miracle? This is not a miracle, Naruto, this is sheer luck. I'm damn lucky for being able to go on like this. So many… so many people would have given up by now, but ever since that night I feel closer to my goal. I feel as though my hatred is strong enough to make him pay for what he did to me. He's going to pay for what he did to me with his life."

"Can you do that even after he came in here?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke breathed harder. "I'm an avenger; I'm not going to let him run free after what he's done to me, to Kakashi, to our clan. He's gotten away with too much and it's time he paid for it." He took a breath lightly. "I'm not going to let him continue what he did to me on you two."

Naruto shook his head. "You need to wake up from this dream of yours."

Sasuke's eyes closed tightly. "I made up my mind. Too long I've been submitting to him. He treated me like I was a bother. Now he's going to be the bother; he's going to be the one who is going to beg me not to kill him."

The pain from his words was roiling behind his eyes as he looked at them. A tear fell down his cheek even though he was trying to stay stoic. The twenty-fifth principle rolled through his head. A ninja never shows his emotions, no matter what the circumstance is, feelings are cloud his judgment and weaken his sense of duty. He couldn't let them see him cry, not over this.

"You don't need to be brave," Naruto soothed. "We aren't going to think any less of you if you cry, Sasuke. We both did, you don't see us acting ashamed of it." He touched Sasuke's face. "Come on, just cry a little, you don't need to break down or sob."

Sasuke let a tear fall down his face. "N-Naruto… I didn't want this… I didn't want him to use me like that." He wrapped his arm around the blond boy. "I-I was looking for you guys and you never showed. I told myself it was only for a little while, that I wasn't going to be alone for too long. But when he came out… I…" he tightened his grip, "… I lost my mind in my horrible dream to finally put my brother in his place. I wasn't scared until I felt his mouth…"

Naruto held on tighter. "Sasuke…"

"I didn't think he would do it, I thought he would just say I wasn't worth his time. I thought he was going to leave me alone, Naruto," he took another deep breath. "And I couldn't fight the feelings, it felt so good and I hate myself for letting him hurt me like that. I'm so disgusting."

"You're not disgusting," Naruto argued holding onto him tighter. "Don't you ever let me hear you say that again! You're going to get out of here in no time, and I promise that I'm going to help you through this. I'm going to take your pain away. I'm going to make you whole again."

Naruto held him tighter looking over at Sakura seeing the jealousy rolling through her body as Sasuke cried harder and harder up against his body. She didn't just want to make him whole again, she wanted to be with him forever, she wanted to make seem as though it never happened, showing that it didn't matter.

"Thank you," Sasuke breathed holding onto Naruto tighter. "Thank you…"

He let out a wince, the sling on his left arms starting to become uncomfortable. It was stretching the muscles in his shoulders. His eyes moved to see his fingers moving. That couldn't be possible; there was no way that he was even able to fathom that much strength. How could he do that? The doctors said that he was most likely never going to be able to move that arm again. The muscles were still too weak after what had happened, the teeth marks still embedded in the connective tissue.

"What the hell?" Sasuke asked trying to move his left arm, it moved toward him with no pain. _No way in hell… how did that just happen? Only a few days ago I wasn't even able to move an inch._

Naruto looked at Sasuke's hand. "You're moving… it's not destroyed."

"I guess not," the Uchiha answered. He looked at his arm moving it closer to his other arm, this was not possible. There was no way that he was even able to understand this. This wasn't supposed to be this soon. But then it hit him: Itachi had kissed him on the arm, but here was no way that a kiss would be able to cure everything. What kind of jutsu was this? Mystical Palms? No, Itachi didn't know medical ninjutsu.

He looked down his legs. _What good is having two arms if he destroyed my legs? What the hell is the point of even going on if I'm not going to be able to move anymore? He's taken everything from me._

Sakura smiled. "You'll be out of here in no time at all."

He took a deep breath looking away from them, his eyes still filled with tears. "What's the point? What are we going to be able to do? We don't have a sensei, you two, and what are we without Kakashi?" the rain hit harder. "He's destroyed this team, because it's mine and he's become hostile toward me over the past few days. He's stopping at nothing to kill me."

"If he wanted to kill you, you'd be dead," Naruto continued. "He wouldn't have just raped you or killed Kakashi right in front of you if he wanted you to die. He would have gone after you. He wants to, but there's something in his mind that's telling him to stop."

Sasuke scoffed. "What do you know?"

"I know that you're in pain," Naruto answered. "I know that on the inside you're hurting, you wish that this was all just a nightmare that you're going to wake up from. You don't want it to be true, you want to wake up and have your dignity back."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sasuke huffed.

"You know what I'm talking about," Naruto answered. "You got your arm back, it can move, yet all you can look at is your legs. Look on the bright side for once."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I-I think it would be best if I was alone."

"Sasuke," Sakura begged. "I know you don't want to be alone right now."

"I…" he took a breath. "I want to be alone… just leave."

Naruto stood up and looked back at his best friend. "Stop trying to hide that you're in pain. It's not good for you in this troubled time. If you need anybody to help you through this when you get out, you know where we are. We'll come to help you, Sasuke, don't let your pride get in the way."

The two left the room, Sasuke's eyes closing tightly trying not to think about what happened. He had the opportunity to kill his brother that night. He could have added a little more chakra to make the punch to the chest semi-fatal. The voices in his head were telling him that he didn't want to do it, and now he knew why.

"Itachi," Sasuke whimpered quietly. "I-I think I'm falling for you…" he started to breath jaggedly every inhalation burning his lungs. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he heard the words that he just said roll around in his mind. The blood on that night when he went into the house, the bodies of his parents, the smile on Itachi's face, how could he think about uttering those words while the memories were still fresh in his mind?

His weeping turned into sobbing his voice crying out loudly thinking about what he had done. Itachi was the reason why he was still alive, the reason that he was trying so hard in life. The reason that he got high marks at the academy. The reason why he strived to succeed on all of their missions. The reason why he didn't let himself die that night. Now he had found a way into his heart into the place where he knew he would never be able to hurt him.

"No," he remembered the broken seal on the wall the day they found Shisui's body. How could he degrade himself like that? He was becoming disgusting just like how the guards described Itachi. He was in love with his one true hate.

"_You're hate for me is still not strong enough. You're still that little boy begging me not to kill you, and you hide it horribly. You don't hate me, you fear me. There's a big difference, and we accept our fears once we realize that they aren't so bad." _

"Fuck you," he breathed shaking his head, his sobs getting louder. "Itachi… you prick… get out of my mind. I don't want to love you. I want to hate you. Why did you do this to me?" he buried his face in his hands. "I didn't want this… I didn't want to love you even back then. I wanted to hate you, Itachi…"

"_And we accept our fears once we realize that they aren't so bad."_

His brother's voice wouldn't cease, he would never forget. He was always going to be right there beside him, always going to invade his mind. What happened to him that night? To Itachi? What came over them that made them let it go on? The feelings aroused one question in Sasuke's mind: was it really rape? Or did he want it?

"Did I want it?" he let out another loud sob thinking about what he had done, the crimes that he had just committed to himself. Everything that he worked so hard for was thrown away in less than a week. What was the point in even trying? Why was he hanging on every time he was dying, why didn't he just die when he had the chance?

His eyes shut tightly, his breathing erratic trying to hold back the tears as he remembered back to the days of his youth. _"I swear I won't let anything happen to you, Sasuke." _He closed his eyes tighter. "That's bullshit, Itachi," he pulled the blankets closer, closing his eyes, trying to erase he memories.

-----

"Why did you take me here?" Sakura asked looking over at Naruto.

He looked up. "To get your mind off of Sasuke, it's depressing you, Sakura. Ever since we found him by the river you've been… _distant_. You've been acting like every time we leave that room you're never going to see him again. He'll be there when we come back. He just wanted some time alone."

Sakura watched as the bowls of ramen were put in front of them, the steam rolling off of the top. Even as she looked into the liquid that the ramen was in all she could think of was that day she was holding Sasuke half dead in her arms. The choking sounds were still in her ears. She could never forget.

"Sasuke…" she breathed.

Naruto sighed, his hand moving to hold hers. "He's going to be alright, Sakura."

"You don't have to lie to me, Naruto," she whispered. "I know that he's in pain, I know that he's going to hate himself for what happened that night. He was raped, Naruto, he can't walk. We're not sure if he'll ever be in the right state of mind to continue his ninja career."

Naruto shook his head. "Sakura… I know the pain that he's going through. I know how it feels to be worthless. He feels like he can't go on anymore because of what happened he was too weak to stop it."

She took a pair of chopsticks looking at the food. "They're trying to get him to walk tomorrow. It's going to be a major accomplishment for him." She smiled looking over at Naruto. "You're right, why should I let this depress me."

"Don't hide your pain," Naruto soothed, almost contradicting himself.

"What do you want Naruto? Do you want me to hide my pain or let it all out? You said both are unacceptable. Do you want me to be like you and try to detach from what's going on whenever you're not around him. There was a time where you couldn't even face him," she shook her head looking away from him. "And then when you did face him… you made it seem like he has a disease, like he's disgusting to you."

Naruto slammed his hand up against the table. "You don't know what it was like to know that I did this to him. I was the one who made this all happen, if I only… if I could have been in walking with him Itachi wouldn't have…"

Sakura closed her eyes. "Why are we talking about this?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"We're supposed to have some relaxation time from watching our comrade die. And we're sitting here and that's all that we're talking about. Sasuke… you never were a fan of the subject before, you always got so jealous of him because you wanted to be the one who got my attention," she inhaled a sharp breath. "Whenever I used to say his name you got the look in his eyes making me think you were going to kill him." She laughed her eyes watering. "In the beginning you guys were competing over everything. You never got to see who was best; you never really got the chance to have your final showdown."

Naruto saw the tears in her eyes. "Sakura…"

"I remember that night so well, the night when _it _happened," she smiled broader. "You two actually left on good terms, you even hugged him before he walked off, promising that you were going to meet him by the river. I'd never seen you two act like friends before that instead of rivals," she cried once. "But then… we never showed up, and by the time we did remember that he was waiting for us it was too late."

"I ran from the screaming," Naruto answered. "I should've recognized the voice; it was his now that I think about it. It was his voice, his screams, and he was screaming one word," he closed his eyes tightly a single tear rolling down his cheek. "I-Itachi_…_"

"His brother's name, he was trying to get him away from his as fast as he could. He was reaching out to the people of this village, and they let him down…"

The two of them sat in silence looking at the ramen, Naruto sighing before he said. "Looks good…"

"Yeah…" she stated almost silently.

"We should eat it before it gets too cold," he looked over at her. "Or have you lost your appetite?"

"I'll eat it," she whispered.

The two of them stirred through the ramen with their chopsticks fighting the tears that were streaming down their faces. He should have been right next to them right now saying that he didn't eat ramen in that cool tone of his. The smirk that should be on his face was piercing through their minds, but there was nothing there but an empty seat. No Sasuke hesitating to show that he truly wanted to ask Naruto if he could eat some of his ramen, no Kakashi to tell them to calm down while flipping through his book; they were on their own as of now.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" a voice stated from behind them. "Looks like forehead girl and Uzumaki are out on a date."

Sakura bowed her head as she stated one word. "Ino…"

The blond girl walked closer. "You finally find out that Sasuke isn't into you so you go for Naruto? Wow, you really have hit rock bottom."

Sakura breathed as she looked into the bowl one of her salty tears hitting the liquid. "What are you doing here Ino?"

"Asuma-sensei told me and Shikamaru to meet him, that he had something important to tell us. Chouji backed out last minute, he felt as though he didn't need to come," Ino laughed as she walked to sit down next to Sakura her blue eyes still closed. "He didn't sound too happy; he actually sounded really upset. To make a jounin that way, let alone Asuma-sensei, it must have been pretty heavy."

Sakura sniffled. "Y-you don't say… what did he want to talk to you about?"

"Apparently a student in our graduating class is in the hospital. I guess something happened to him. He couldn't say anymore before he told us to meet him saying that he could do it better in person," Ino laughed as she looked over Shikamaru. "What do you think it was about, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru shrugged sitting next to Ino. "Whoever it was something bad must have happened to him."

Sakura's body started shaking more as she heard the words, not able to hold back the tears anymore, her hands moving to cover her face. Her sobs grew louder as Ino looked upon her and only one word left Ino's lips.

"S-Sasuke…" she opened her eyes wider. "Was it Sasuke? What happened to him, Sakura? What happened to Sasuke?"

Sakura looked into her once best friend's eyes. "You mean you haven't heard what happened? The break in at the hospital? The clamor by the river nine days ago? The screams? You haven't heard about any of it?"

"Sakura, I have no clue what you're talking about," Ino stated confusion in her voice. "What happened to him? Why are you crying? Is he that bad?"

Sakura took a deep breath. "Sasuke… nine days ago… he was down by the river waiting to meet us. We never showed up until the next day and I will never forget it…" she took a breath as she closed her eyes tighter. "He was curled up in a bloody ball, his skin was so white and he was so cold. When we got him there he was barely breathing. They… they had to revive him… it took four hits to finally get his heart beating again. I thought lost him…"

Ino shook her head. "But what happened to him? Why was he like that?"

"You know his brother right." Sakura stated. "Itachi Uchiha?"

"The S-Class criminal?" Shikamaru asked. "The one who wiped out the Uchiha clan in a single night. He's a wanted criminal, what does he have to do with this?"

"What did he do to Sasuke?" Ino asked her eyes watering.

Sakura looked over at Naruto; she couldn't form the words to tell them what happened. The guilt was still strong in her body, how could she explain the most traumatic experience of his life?

Naruto looked at Ino. "Ino… he was… his brother met him down by the river and he…" he swallowed hard his blue eyes closing. "He took something from him that he is never going to get back, something that he wasn't offering. He… touched him… he…"

Ino's eyes widened. "You mean… he… _raped_ him?"

Sakura sobbed harder as she looked at Naruto. "I can't believe they didn't know. Didn't Asuma tell you? I thought they told everyone"

"Asuma-sensei's been out of it lately, he's been acting like he's lost something," Shikamaru continued as he looked at Sakura. "He hasn't even been smoking the cigarettes, but he's been coughing more. I don't know what happened to him, but something happened two days ago that the whole village is in uproar about."

Naruto looked over at them. "You really don't know what's going on?"

Ino looked over at Sakura and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. "We don't know why everyone's so upset. What happened after Sasuke was put into the hospital? What happened two days ago, Naruto?"

Naruto took a deep breath. "Itachi Uchiha… he's back. He broke into the hospital and several ANBU guards were killed in the battle. Thanks to that attack, Sasuke's treatment was set back and the likeliness of him being able to get out of there anytime soon is becoming more and more false."

"He's back?" Ino asked. "What does he want?"

"What else?" Naruto asked. "He wants Sasuke…"

Sakura looked over into the distance as she thought of the words. _Sasuke… it hurts to know that he's somewhere out there. He wants you, and he's going to stop at nothing to obtain what he wants. I don't want him to take you from me Sasuke. _She hugged Ino tighter. _Sasuke… I love you… I don't want to lose you._

-----

The rain hit the window harder as he tried to continue to sob, his eyes growing dry. He had been crying for hours now, hating himself more and more with every passing moment. Red eyes danced in his mind transforming into the ebony ones that he used to seek comfort in during the cold nights when he had nothing to hold onto. Now they just filled him with hate. The comfort was gone. He had nowhere to turn.

"I'm going to kill you," he whispered as he looked over at the cabinet that held all of his belongings. "As soon as they let me out of here, Itachi, you're going to pay for what you did to me," he coughed. "You think you can use me and leave me here to die? I don't die that easily. You're going to have to work harder."

The beeping of the EKG filled his ears as he closed his eyes, the second hand was moving vividly as he thought about the times he was going to endure when he got out of there. "You think I'm going to hand Naruto over for power? I'm not like you, I'm not going to do what you did to Shisui, I'm going to keep my promise."

"_Don't die… promise me that you're going to come out of this all alive. If you think about dying before I do. If you even think about it, I'll hate you. "_

"I won't Naruto, I'm not going to give up now after all of these years. I have to kill you Itachi, to prove to myself that I don't love him; my body does not crave his. I want to put an end to you just like you wanted to do to me. He's going to give me what I deserve after all of this time," he looked at the clock closing his eyes. "I'm going to take his life. He killed me… I kill him, it's only fair.

"_Your hate for me is still not strong enough. You're still that little boy begging me not to kill you, and you hide it horribly. You don't hate me, you fear me. There's a big difference, and we accept our fears once we realize that they aren't so bad."_

"Fuck you, Itachi, you and your Goddamn purpose."

* * *

**Author's Note: **This was another chapter where it seemed like the plot didn't really drive forward, but the next conflict is coming really soon. Thank you for putting up with how long this chapter was, I really appreciate it. So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Want the next chapter really soon? Tell me what you think. Remember, honesty.

The next chapter they're going to try to see if Sasuke can still walk, Itachi comes back in a flashback from their youth. I would also like to warn Sakura haters in advance, there's some real SasuSaku in the next chapter (sorry.)


	6. Chapter 6

**Discalimer: **I still don't own Naruto or any of the charecters involved in the anime or manga.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains a shounen-ai incest flashback, as well as yaoi, incestious thoughts, crude language, references to violence, OOC, and anti-canonical themes (later chapters will really support this fact). This is also a long chapter, but shorter compared to some of the recent chapters. There are also some errors that are littered throughout there that I probably missed.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, SasuSaku, ShisIta (Shisui/Itachi), slight SasuNaru, a splash of one-sided NaruSaku, and one-sided SasuIno.

* * *

Sasuke looked out the window; he had finally stopped all of the useless crying. It wasn't going to bring anything back, so why did he waste so much energy doing it. The rain was starting to ease up on the window, his eyes going toward the door. The doctors hadn't been in there for thirty minutes and the last one was only in to straighten out his pillows and blankets making sure that he was warm enough. 

But it was a glorious day, the day that the doctors were going to check his legs to make sure that he could walk. He'd been lying immobile in bed for days now, only getting out of bed once to confront his brother during the break-in. He could still feel the blood running down his flesh from that failed attempt. His legs felt alright and they had sealed all of the wounds that were in his body. Maybe he was going to get out sooner than he had hoped.

The doorknob turned as the door opened, the doctors had arrived. "Good morning Sasuke, did you get enough sleep?"

He nodded shakily as he looked at them with worried eyes. "What do I owe this visit to?"

"Sasuke," one stated moving closer. "How do your legs feel today?"

"F-fine," he answered, the tubes that led the IV to his arm were being withdrawn, the EKG being disconnected from his chest. "Are you going to make me walk today?"

"We're going to try, Sasuke."

He nodded as they took the blankets off of him, the cold air rushing to his body. Under those blankets for so long he was starting to adapt to the excess heat.

"How long have I been in here now?" he asked.

One doctor looked at him. "You mean in the hospital? I think this is the eighteenth day. You're recovery is going faster than we expected, we expected you to be here for months, but due to the scans that we did yesterday on your heart and lungs it looks like they're clear now."

A smile graced Sasuke's lips. "So I'm going to get out of here?"

"As soon as you can walk."

_Then I'm going to have to swallow my pain and take it. If I'm ever going to face Itachi I'm going to have to be able to take it. I don't want to repeat that night. That's not what I need; I don't need more self pity. I need strength, even if I have to force myself._ He moved out of the bed a doctor helping him to his feet. The ground was cold like it was the day when Itachi had snuck past the guards to come in and whisper his plans.

"_And you're going to deliver him to me to do it to him." _

He stood up, the bruises that were on his legs starting to scream out in pain telling him to get back into bed. A wince left his lips; this was going to be harder than he thought it was. What he thought was going to be just a minor setback was deterring him from his path. He had to walk.

"Are you alright?" the doctor asked.

"I'm fine," Sasuke breathed looking at his legs. They were weakened and bruised, stuck wrapping around Itachi's body forever. No. He couldn't think of this now, he had to focus on the steps. He had to forget that night.

"_Whatever you do, fool, remember the pain that I have given you and then see if your dream is worth it."_

It was worth it, his dream was the only reason why he was still alive, why he hadn't given up. _My dream is what brought me to you, Itachi, the only reason why you came back, because my ambitions made me stronger. It drew your attention._

He fought out of the doctors' grip standing on his own turning to face them. How was he going to even think about moving forward when he could barely stand up? He could feel the pain inside of him that Itachi left him with, the results of the test. It was his failure to fight back.

_I'm going to kill you, Itachi… _he walked forward swallowing his pain. _Four years ago you killed everything that was important to me without even thinking I was worth it. Am I worth you attention now, brother? Or are you going to use me for a sick play toy?_

He remembered the laughter, the joy, the times that he had shared with his brother as he walked forward. Was he going to destroy the only memory he had left? Even if he did annihilate the whole clan, was it worth it to kill him. Yes, without a doubt in his mind. He took another step trying to think of his goal: the death of his brother.

But the kisses, the cuddles, the laughter. It was all flowing back to him with every step all until the moment where he heard his brother's voice whisper the words "I love you". And at that precise time he fell to his knees remembering them in bed together as kids, his brother's embrace.

_Was he in love with me? _Sasuke asked himself ignoring the shouts of the doctors in the background. _Was Itachi genuinely in love with me? _His eyes closed as he thought back to all of the times when they were younger. Does he still love me?

"Sasuke," the doctors cried out as they walked closer to him. "Are you alright?"

He lost his mind deeper and deeper into his stupor remembering the nights when he would seek his brother. They seemed so distant now, almost like a far off saga that was all coming back in a recollection of thoughts. Darkness encompassed him as he looked forward hearing the voices call out to him.

"Sasuke…"

_Six years ago…_

The thunder was crashing outside as Sasuke lay in his bed thinking. The sounds frightened him, the danger of it all, the noise, the flashes of light. Through all of that he wouldn't be able to see if anyone that he cared about was in pain. And to put more fear into his heart, Itachi was still out there.

His eleven-year-old brother had many duties these days; he was already a well-recognized chuunin. Tonight was different, it wasn't a mission, he had left the house after Sasuke heard yelling coming from their parent's room. Itachi had gotten into another argument with their father. _Why can't they just get along?_

Through the crash of thunder he heard voice from outside the house. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

Sasuke sat up in his bed taking off the covers as he heard the words. "I'm fine."

"Brother?" Sasuke asked starting to get back into bed, but the thunderclaps were ringing in his ears. How much longer could the storm last? It started after Itachi had left the house saying that he had to clear his mind.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Itachi continued as they walked into the house. "Now be quiet, my parents are sleeping and I don't want to wake Sasuke."

Footsteps were heard through the sound of rain drops on the window. Itachi wasn't alone tonight; he had brought someone into their house with him. But fear was not in the air. The tone of the other boy's voice made it seem like he cared about Itachi, he didn't mean any harm.

"You should go," Itachi whispered.

"He's not going to hurt you again is he?"

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. _I don't want to hear this, make it all go away._

"He won't, Shisui," Itachi soothed as the door opened.

Shisui, Sasuke knew who that was, he was his cousin. Itachi always talked about him and they were seen sometimes walking around with one another. But Sasuke had rarely met him in person, he was a mystery. But judging by the tone of voice he knew that he didn't mean any harm tonight. He could practically feel the compassion radiating off of his body.

"If he touches you…" Shisui started.

Itachi laughed. "You're going to hurt the police captain? I don't think you can do that no matter how skilled you are," there was a slight pause. "Go home, Shisui."

"Why don't you come to my house, Itachi, you can stay the night there. There's no way that anyone is going to get hurt if we do that. Please Itachi; I don't like seeing you like this."

"Shisui," he heard his brother breathe followed by a small kissing sound. "Good night, I'll see you tomorrow."

The noises stopped as the water hit the glass of the window, lightning lighting up the sky causing Sasuke to squeal quietly. He had been trying all night to deal with it, he couldn't do it anymore. Fear filled him to the rim of his sanity; his heart was racing in his chest. With all of the energy in his adrenaline rush he moved quickly out of the door. He looked in the direction of his parent's room the memories of what had happened still fresh in his mind.

"_He's not going to hurt you again is he?"_

Sasuke moved in the other direction to Itachi's room knowing that he was still awake. He had just come home and probably needed more attention now then ever. The words that his father had said to him were crude and unnecessary. What he expected to hear outside of Itachi's room he didn't. There was no crying, no ink pens writing formal suicide notes. It was dead silent.

_Is he asleep that fast? Or did Shisui go in there with him? They don't sound like they're any other people in there. _He moved his hand to knock on the door when the sky exploded with a brilliant flash of light. "Brother? Brother, are you in there?"

The door opened after only a few seconds of silence, Itachi standing in the doorway soaking wet. He was shivering slightly as he looked down at Sasuke with warm eyes, a smile on his face.

"Sasuke?" he asked crouching down to his level. "What are you doing here?"

Sasuke let out a little whimper as the thunder roared again, grabbing onto his brother's body. Even though he was soaking wet he was so warm, and he smelled wondrous. He had never smelled something that took control of his senses like that.

"You're scared?" Itachi asked returning the hug. "It's okay, it's not going to hurt you, Sasuke, it's just lightning."

"Easy for you to say, you're not scared of anything," Sasuke whimpered.

Itachi laughed almost silently. "You're adorable," he lifted him off of the ground holding him tighter. "Come on, Sasuke, you'll catch a cold out there." He closed the door behind them holding onto the young boy tightly. "Can't sleep again?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No…"

"When are you going to get over that fear?" he asked putting him down on the bed stroking Sasuke's face gently. "You know when you're a ninja you're going to have to be unafraid of everything."

The younger brother pouted his lips as he shivered. "You're soaked, brother. Why were you out in the rain so late at night?"

Itachi stood silent as he looked away from Sasuke; his black eyes were blank as the rain hit harder. "I was trying to clear my thoughts and Shisui was kind enough to accompany me in that quest," he sat down on the bed looking down at his little brother. "You don't like me being wet?"

"You must be so cold, brother," Sasuke whimpered touching his brother's chest. "I want you to be warm… I don't want you to die."

Itachi smiled. "You think I'm going to die? A little rain isn't going to kill me, not for how long I as out there for. Is that why you couldn't sleep, because I was out there?"

Sasuke moved his hands to the bottom of Itachi's shirt. "You're wet, brother. You're going to freeze to death."

The mentality of a six-year-old was starting it's toll on his mind. He could feel his brother shivering up against his skin, his breathing jagged from the heat that Sasuke was giving off.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed. "I'm not going to die. You have to calm down; the storm is making you scared, you're afraid that you're going to lose me, just like you did in all of those nightmares."

"Brother," Sasuke whimpered closing his eyes. "I don't want you to die."

The rain hit harder as his older brother's hands touched the back of his head pulling him closer to his wet body, the young boy's hands still on the bottom of the garment. The pull continued until Sasuke was up against Itachi's chest holding him closely, the pumping of his heart in the young boy's ear.

"You hear that?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah," Sasuke breathed turning to look up at his brother. "That's your heartbeat, brother." He smiled nuzzling closer to the sound. "I like it…"

Itachi let out a low breath. "As long as you feel that you know that I'm still with you, and you know that I'm never going to leave you like that. How selfish would I be to leave you with all of this without a helping hand?" he moved down to plant a light kiss on Sasuke's forehead. "I swear nothing will happen to you, Sasuke."

"Promise?" Sasuke asked.

"It's an older brother rule," Itachi smiled back stroking Sasuke's hair feeling the young boy shiver with another flash of lightening. "Shh, I'm here, Sasuke, the lightning won't hurt you when I'm here."

"W-why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because it doesn't want to start a confrontation," the chuunin snickered, closing his eyes. "We're going to get over this fear little by little even if it takes until you're grown. Or do you want father to help you out?"

Sasuke shook his head holding onto Itachi tighter. "I want you to do it, you're better at situations like this. All father will do is yell at me," he buried his face deeper into his brother's chest. "I don't like it when he yells."

A long breath escaped Itachi's lips followed by and almost silent. "Nor do I."

Fear was melting away as Itachi held onto him tighter. Sasuke was lost in the beating of Itachi's heart; it was comforting to know that he was always going to be there for him. As another flash of light filled the room, Sasuke let out a low squeal, the embrace tightening into a possessive hold.

"I'm not going to let you get hurt," his brother whispered moving him back onto the bed, both of them lying together. "It's going to be alright, Sasuke, I'm here now. I'm here, nothing can harm you."

Sasuke's eyes closed, burying his flesh in that hypnotizing warmth of his brother's body. His own heart started to beat calmly the arms were holding him tightly, possessively from the storm that was trying to take Sasuke away. Warmth swirled through the air his brother lips hitting his forehead again.

"Brother," Sasuke giggled as his brother's lips hit his forehead. "That tickles."

In the dim light of the room, Sasuke could see the emotion in Itachi's eyes savoring the moment. Outside of the almost nightly cuddles he had never seen him with that much feeling. Around father Itachi's eyes were empty and dead, around Shisui his eyes were empty and full of pain, but around Sasuke his eyes were full and loving. Yet tonight the passion was pouring out of them, something was wrong.

"Brother?" Sasuke asked. "What did father do to you? Why was he yelling?"

Itachi swallowed nervously as he backed away. "He was just being overbearing again, you know father. I messed up a little a couple days ago, but it won't repeat itself, I learned my lesson," he held onto his side lightly, wincing at the pain.

"Brother," Sasuke breathed watching his brother wrap his arms around him again.

"You don't have to worry about what goes on with me, Sasuke," Itachi kissed him on the forehead again. "You have your own future to look ahead to."

Sasuke looked into his brother's eyes breaking free of the strong embrace. There they were eye to eye looking straight at one another. In Itachi's black irises, Sasuke saw confusion and fear. Why was he acting like this? Itachi was never this expressive.

"Sasuke, what are you…?" Itachi gasped as he felt Sasuke's lips touch his lightly. Those emotionless eyes lit up with more shock than Sasuke could have even fathomed inside of his body, a warm blush rolling across his face. "S-Sasuke…"

"Feel better now?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"S-Sasuke…" Itachi was trying to conceal the blush, but was failing.

The younger boy moved to rest on the pillow watching as his brother touched his own lips; his eyes were in complete confusion. The bright pink blush that was across his eleven-year-old brother's face made Sasuke giggle. What was so big about that kiss? When he and Itachi was younger they used to kiss each other all of the time.

"Did you…?" Itachi touched his lips lightly.

"Do you feel better?" Sasuke asked with a sly grin.

Hunger filled Itachi's eyes as he pushed Sasuke down to the bed looking straight into the younger one's irises. "Look at me, Sasuke, look at me." The younger brother complied, his body shaking. "I feel a lot better now…"

"Brother?" Sasuke asked. "What are you?"

Itachi smiled slightly. "It's alright, Sasuke, you don't have to worry."

"Do you promise?" Sasuke asked holding his brother's hand tightly. "Or are you going to lie to me again?" his pressed his lips up against Itachi's hand. "You promise?"

Itachi nodded. "I promise."

The distance between the two of them shrunk as Itachi pulled Sasuke closer, licking along his neck. It felt strange having something so silken up against him, having the warm trail of his saliva up against his skin. He let out a light breath his small arms wrapping around his Itachi's body tighter, slight giggles leaving Sasuke's lips.

"I love you, Sasuke," Itachi moaned kissing at the moist flesh.

"I love you too," Sasuke giggled his eyes opening slightly.

"I _love _you…" Itachi's hands moved to either side of Sasuke's face, his warm moist flesh making Sasuke shiver and wince. His lips moved to kiss along Sasuke's jaw line the pressure from his hands onto the younger boy's face becoming stronger, pushing him deeper into the pillow.

Naïve to what was going on at the time Sasuke just kept laughing at the sensations. It tickled. He wanted more, more than what Itachi was ever going to be able to give him. He wanted all of his attention, more than what Shisui had been given. He deserved him more than anyone else did. His brother belonged to him. Nothing was going to take Itachi away.

"I love you…" Itachi breathed moving next to Sasuke's body. "I love you more than anything, Sasuke."

_Present day…_

"_I love you more than anything, Sasuke."_

His eyes opened as he let out a small scream, what had just happened. Was that a dream? The memory felt so real, it was so clear; he could feel his brother's lips up against his, his tongue gliding across his face. He remembered it all so clearly: the rain, the thunderstorm, the kisses. What happened in that bed all of those years ago were almost forgotten on his quest for hate. His brother was so close to him.

_What did he do to me in that bed? _He laughed the whole time it was happening, he laughed when he felt his brother bite on his neck leaving the small love bites that his father had always had a questioning gaze at. Itachi had tried to sully him before, had tired to make him his own. The truth was reavealed, now Sasuke knew why he was doing all of this.

"_I love you more than anything, Sasuke."_

Itachi had told him everything that night and he didn't understand until now. Itachi was in love with him; his older brother was in love with him ever since he was a child. Why? Why Sasuke? What was the sexual attraction that Itachi felt for a six-year-old that night? But Sasuke blamed himself; all he did was laugh and repeat everything that he said. He was the one who kissed him first.

The blush was still in his mind, the surprised look in Itachi's eyes as he looked off into the distance. How long was he going to be able to hold back the feelings of absolute love for his younger brother? Why did it have to come out in the form of violence like it did nine days ago? He didn't want it like that. Sasuke closed his eyes, and now he was suffering the same fate. He was in love with Itachi. He had been all along.

_How? _He asked himself. _How can I love him after all he did?_

Sasuke didn't touch him that night; he had the perfect opportunity to stop him. He let him go when he was fighting with Kakashi, cheering Itachi on instead of his sensei, crying out every time that he got struck down. Worst of all, he was all that he could think about. After all of the years of idolization he had finally found the true words for his feelings: obsession, raw passion, and love. All three meant the end of an existence for him. What was his purpose now?

A tear rolled down his cheek. This was all a lie; he was going to have to prove to himself this was a lie. He had to kill Itachi now, there was nothing holding him back. If he could kill him then he could prove that was not in love with him. It was the only way. His dream had to come true, or else it would die.

"Sasuke?" a voice asked from outside the door. "Can I come back in yet?"

He knew that voice. "Sakura?"

"Can I come back in, or do you still want to be alone?" Sakura asked again.

"No," he announced. "By all means come back in."

The door opened Sakura walking back in with a smile on her face. The darkness that was in the air was starting to lift as she walked closer. She brought light back into his life. All that Itachi had tried to kill him with was all with one look from her green eyes. She was the one who could save him; prove that he didn't love Itachi.

"I missed you," she smiled.

He looked up at her. "I missed having the company."

She smiled broader looking at the hospital room. "I see that they took one of the IVs away. That's wonderful, Sasuke, you're getting better."

"Yeah, they realized that there's nothing wrong with my jaw and I can eat solid food now," he smiled a weak smile. "They say I could be out of her any day now, my condition has improved. Soon I'm going to get out of this hellhole and start to live actual life, a life without this pain."

She held his right hand tightly making his gasp in shock. "Are you going to be alright after you get out of here? I mean _he's_ still out there… I don't want to see you get hurt, Sasuke. I know I'm weak, but I lose you…"

"Sakura," he breathed.

"Don't make me watch you die again, Sasuke, I won't do it anymore," she begged. "I don't want you to die…"

His eyes widened with concern. "Sakura…"

"It hurt more than you think it did when you told the doctors not to let me or Naruto in. I was afraid that something was going to happen to you and I was going to find out in a letter, or a phone call," her eyes were watering violently as she looked down at him. "I know that you're hurting, Sasuke, and I wish I could feel your pain."

He shook his head. "I don't want you to feel my pain, Sakura; you don't deserve to feel what I'm feeling right now, no one does. And I pray to God that you will never have to go through what I went through. I don't want you to break."

He held his hand tighter closing her eyes. "I didn't want _you_ to break…"

"You're four years too late," he laughed lightly.

She shook her head. "You amaze me, how can you be so calm about this? Doesn't it hurt to think about it?"

"Not anymore," he breathed. "I know that now more than ever I have to kill him."

Her eyes looked into his; hers were tearing up with more tears that would be added to the ones wasted on him. The grip on his hand was tighter as she buried her face in his chest crying softly his other hand moving to stroke her hair lightly.

"Sakura, don't cry for me," he begged continuing to weave his fingers through the light pink locks of hair. "Please don't cry."

She looked up into his eyes, her body shaking. "Why not?"

"Because I don't like to see you cry for me," he breathed.

"It's hard to stop," she sniffled looking into his eyes deeper, tears still rolling freely down her cheeks, "once you've already started, Sasuke."

He smirked. "I can make you feel better."

"You don't know how to make me feel better," she whimpered pulling tighter on his shirt burying her face in his chest again. "You can't make me stop crying, Sasuke, so don't even try."

His hand moved to take her chin until she was facing him, their eyes looking straight into one another's. In her jade irises he found something that he had never taken the time to find in her, she was more than just obsessed with him; she was completely enamored by his presence. Another tear fell, hitting him on the neck, the liquid making him shiver, it was just like the night with his brother, the night where he kissed him.

Some force inside of his body was pushing him closer to her, his breath mixing with hers right in between them. Her grip on his shirt had slipped slightly as her eyes widened in shock. A small gasp filled the room as they both felt something that they weren't expecting: their lips touched in a small kiss.

Her fingers left his shirt as the kiss intensified and moved to his shoulders to pull him closer up against her chest. Passion was swirling through the darkness of the room as he pulled at her hair lightly, the pink strands tangling around his fingers in the action. Hopefully there were no doctors outside of the room to hear his EKG speed up as his tongue slipped deeper into her mouth.

Moans seeped from both of their lips as they struggled not to fall back onto the bed, but they were slowly losing the war that they were having with their bodies. With a slight plop they fell back onto the bed, Sakura on top of Sasuke, their bond still not breaking. Colors swirled through their minds with passion and the lack of oxygen going to their brain, the beeping of the EKG becoming more and more rapid.

Their lips parted each other's slowly as they looked into each other's eyes, their bodies still craving more from one another. _I've been fighting that urge for a while now. _He thought stroking her face.

"Feel better now?" he asked trying to catch his breath.

She nodded shakily. "I feel a lot better now…"

He sat up straight her head resting closely up against his chest. His hand was still running through her hair as he looked down at her. For once in his whole hospital time with her he was actually making her smile, no longer depressing her the way that he feared. Nothing was going to change, he wasn't going to become harder toward his teammates and shut them out the way that he did before. He wasn't like Itachi was, he wasn't going to break the way he did.

"Sasuke," she started. "Why did you do that?"

"What?" he asked.

"Why did you kiss me?"

He took a deep breath. "Sakura, for the longest time now, I've been afraid of feeling close to anything. I hated everything and there wasn't anything in particular that I enjoyed. By the age of twelve, I felt the world had turned its back on me, I really thought that Itachi took everything away. But I have things that I never had before… I have people who care… he hasn't taken that from me."

Her eyes still watered. "I care more than anyone ever will, Sasuke. I love you, I have for a while now and I never really found a way to express my feelings. Ino was in competition with me for your heart and there were times where I thought I was going to lose."

"Lose?" he asked with a slight chuckle. "To Ino…?"

"You don't like Ino?" Sakura questioned looking back at him.

He smiled. "She is the single most annoying person I have ever met. And I've been with Naruto for months now."

"She tries," Sakura stated her voice low.

"She tries too hard, you on the other hand you don't try hard enough. Through these days you're exactly what I need," he closed his eyes. _You're lying to her; you're using her so badly. She's going to help you get over him. Get those Goddamn red eyes out of your mind._

"I didn't think you would ever pay attention to me," Sakura smiled.

_She's such a pure spirit and she's always there for me, but not like Naruto is when he's here… he's just like… _he opened his eyes wider as he thought about it. _He's just like…_

"_Why don't you come to my house, Itachi, you can stay the night there. There's no way that anyone is going to get hurt if we do that. Please Itachi; I don't like seeing you like this."_

He took a deep breath, a silent whisper passing his lips. "Shisui…"

"Who?" Sakura asked.

Reality hit him, he had said that out loud. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Sasuke, tell me who _Shisui_ is," she laughed. "You were in a trance when you said it. Was it someone bad?" she took a deep breath. "Sasuke… who was Shisui? What did he do?"

Sasuke's eyes closed as he thought about it. After he joined ANBU, Itachi's relationship with Shisui got more distant. They started to yell more, Shisui kept blaming Itachi's father for what was happening to him while Itachi tried to seal himself from the problem.

"_He's killing you! And I'm not going to sit back and let it all happen."_

"Shisui… he was…" he closed his eyes remembering the night of the thunderstorm when he was six. "He's just a far off memory now… nothing but a vision of the past. A mirage… if I dare say it."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Really? But who is he?"

Sasuke nodded. "He's nothing now… absolutely nothing."

She moved to meet his eyes. "I don't like seeing you in this much pain, Sasuke. Everything that you've been bringing up is a painful memory from your long forgotten past. Why is it all coming back to you now? Or is this just the first time that you're going to let me into your mind?"

"Are you insulted by my past?" Sasuke asked flatly.

"No, it's just, all of this time you've only been insulting me, telling me that I don't know what it's like to feel your pain. Now you're just going to let m into your mind? You're going to let me know all of the things that you saw that made you the way you are?" she shook her head. "Is this a trick? Are you toying with me?"

"Why would I trick you?" he asked cocking his head to the side brushing the ebony strands out of his face. "Do you think that I'm that cold?"

"You were always distant," she whimpered. "You never paid attention to me. Every time I tried to talk to you, you made me seem like I was such a bother. You broke my heart."

"Sakura," he started. "I…"

"Don't deny it; all I wanted was for you to accept me, Sasuke, for you to understand that I was on the same planet as you. I wanted you to know that I existed. The whole time that we had together before the time when you got violated you never made it seem like you enjoyed my company," she sobbed harder. "You… and now… you're… you're paying attention to me."

"Sakura," he breathed pulling her closer to his body looking into her eyes. "Forget all of our past experiences. Forget the way that I treated you back then. It was all a lie; I was never able to say all of my feelings for you. I was always afraid that he was going to take you away from me. He took everything else."

His lips touched hers passionately taking her lips fully, his tongue slipping into her mouth. He hands moved to fervidly grab the hair that was in his face pulling his lips closer to his. Sasuke's hands moved to the small of her back a moan seeping past the threshold of his lips.

"Oh my God!" a voice called out, quickly breaking their kiss. "Look! They're kissing!"

Sakura turned to the door. "Oh great… it's you again Ino…"

The blond girl stood in the doorway Shikamaru and Naruto were close in tow. As she walked forward, Sasuke's attention was on Naruto, the blank look in his eyes piercing daggers through his body. Jealousy, he still had a thing for Sakura, and even through all of her obvious hatred he was still in love with her.

"Did Sasuke stop breathing, forehead girl?" Ino asked walking up to Sasuke's bed. "I never though CPR involved tongue."

"Go to hell," Sakura hissed.

Ino sat down next to Sakura looking at Sasuke. "I can't believe you got your first kiss, Sakura. I guess Sasuke feels real generous to even think about looking at you right now. All of the drugs must be making him _delusional_."

Sasuke looked away from the two girls all of their words fading into idle chatter as he remembered what Itachi had once said listening to the rain. Every second that went by, he felt more and more drawn to his brother and even his moments alone with Sakura didn't get rid of the feelings. He was falling even more in love with his brother. He wanted him more than he wanted anything.

"_As long as you feel that you know that I'm still with you. And you know that I'm never going to leave you like that. How selfish would I be to leave you with all of this without a helping hand? I swear nothing will happen to you, Sasuke." _

He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to block out the beating of Itachi's heart. He was always going to be there just like he said he would be. Itachi was going to be there in his mind was starting to adhere to him, wanting to come closer to him. He wanted him more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. And he always got what he wanted.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked. "Are you alright?"

He looked over at her. "I'm fine."

Ino smiled as she lay down next to him on the bed. "I hear that you're going to be out at the end of the week, and I wanted to know what you would say to you and me going out and doing something together."

He shook his head. "I have better things to do than spend time with you…"

Ino scoffed as she looked into Sasuke's onyx eyes. "Sasuke… I know what happened to you. I know why you're here, and I'm sorry that it happened. If anyone had known what was going on there…"

"I've heard it all before," he scoffed his eyes closing. "Every person has come in here trying to tell me that I shouldn't hate myself. I don't need you in here to do it too. What I need right now is to work up more strength so I can walk. The sooner I walk, the sooner I get out of here, the sooner he'll pay."

Ino's eyes widened in shock. "You're going after him? After what he did to you, you still want to make him pay?"

"I will always want to make him pay. It's why I'm alive. But a girl like you, well, you wouldn't know what a real purpose is," he took a breath. "Obsession is going to be your downfall, Ino Yamanaka. The more that you feel that you want something that is unfeasible the more your judgment becomes clouded. It's a trial by fire that makes us all finally realize what we are destined to have."

The blond girl's eyes widened. "Sasuke…"

"I know what I've been doing wrong all along, and I can't have all of you distracting me right now. So if you could all please leave…" all of the people in the room started walking toward the door. "Not you, Naruto. I want you to stay with me. It's been a while since we were able to talk to one another." He patted the bed. "Please…"

Naruto walked slowly as he closed the door behind him. "Sasuke? I heard that you passed out after the first trial. Your body is still too weak to even think about walking, but I know that you're too stubborn to let anything keep you in here."

"That's not what I want you to talk to me about," Sasuke breathed. "I want you to tell me something…"

Naruto knelt next to the bed looking into his friend's eyes. "Yeah, Sasuke…"

"Naruto…" he started taking a deep breath. "About what happened with Sakura… I didn't know that you were right there. If I knew that you were sitting right there I would have held myself back. I know you must hate me."

"I don't hate you, you need something to hold onto," Naruto answered quietly his shaking hand moving to stroke the stray hairs away from Sasuke's face. "You're going through a difficult period. A man is out there and he's looking for you, waiting for you to come back to him. He wants you for some purpose, that's why you're alive."

"You think you've got it all figured out. You know so much, yet it took you a full week for you to even thinking about facing me, I know you're scared. Naruto, I need you to tell me something right now. I want another promise," Sasuke swallowed hard. "Promise me that you will never allow me to hurt you. No matter how much I try to persuade you… don't let me hurt you. Fight back…"

"That's a strange promise," Naruto laughed looking away from Sasuke. The comforting feel in the air was gone as he touched Sasuke's face forcing him to look at him seeing the pain in his onyx eyes. "Sasuke…?"

"Promise me that you won't let me hurt you," Sasuke answered. "There are thoughts in my head right now, thoughts that are starting to take effect. I get the feeling that I have to kill you in order to obtain the power that I need. I'm a monster for even thinking that. You're my best friend. And I-I don't want to lose you…"

Naruto's eyes widened. "No, you're not a monster…"

"Stop lying, Naruto, I'm losing my mind enclosed in these four walls. I need to get out of here. Please, Naruto, help me," he closed his eyes. "I'm getting farther and farther away from him. I need to feel his blood on my hands one last time before I can spend an eternity in here. You're my best friend, and friends help each other. Naruto will you help me?"

"I can't get you out of here, not until you learn how to walk," the blond sighed.

Sasuke's eyes lit up. "Then teach me… teach me how to walk."

There was a small silence as blue looked straight into onyx. The look in Sasuke's eyes, the pure determination that was undulating through his gaze. The question rolled around Naruto's mind. Was Sasuke out of his mind?

"You want me to teach you how to walk?" Naruto asked.

"The doctors said that I should wait until tomorrow," the Uchiha smirked. "I can't wait that long. If tomorrow I know how to walk they'll all let me go. Naruto, friends do favors for one another. I want you to help me this one last time. This is really important to me."

"You don't like taking it easy?" Naruto asked with a small laugh stroking Sasuke's face.

"You know that I have to get out of here, you idiot," Sasuke snapped.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm going to do this so I don't have to listen to you bitch anymore you Goddamn drama queen." He pulled the sheets off of Sasuke's body.

"What the hell!" he shivered. "Can't you warn me, you prick?"

"Do you want to walk?" Naruto asked with a small smirk. "Now we need you to get out of bed to see how well you balance. And don't hurt yourself this time because I'm not going to carry your fat ass back into the bed."

Sasuke moved out of the bed holding onto Naruto's hands tightly. He stood up without a look of pain in his eyes his breathing steady. The first step was accompanied by a wince, his hands squeezing tightly up against his best friend's.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?" Naruto asked his hand moving to support his back.

"I'm fine, but falling earlier didn't help the pain," he winced.

Naruto felt as Sasuke took another step the pain was disappearing with every movement. His grip was loosening on his hands the movements were more comforting. A smile graced his face as he looked over at Naruto.

"It's working," Naruto breathed.

"Little by little, but I won't give up, even if it takes all night," Sasuke breathed. "Do you mind staying here?"

"Not at all, you're my best friend, Sasuke," Naruto answered. "I'll stay."

They leaned up against the wall as Sasuke tried to catch his breath still holding onto Naruto's hands tighter. Through the glass of the window was the sound of the rain falling. Sasuke's eyes were closed as he tried to concentrate; he was abusing himself on the inside as he thought pf his method.

"Do it again," Sasuke begged. "While we still have time."

Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's body feeling the pain that he was feeling. The torture he was going through was just so he could find his brother to finally kill him. His breath was getting heavier as he tried to walk again, sweat rolling down his chin. Was it all worth it?

"Sasuke, when are you going to let them all back in here?" Naruto asked.

"When I don't have to listen to Ino try to help," Sasuke breathed holding onto Naruto. "And I don't think Sakura wants to see me right now. I don't even want to see me. But you Naruto… you're the only one I don't mind seeing me."

The two of them continued to move across the floor, the support that Sasuke was giving on Naruto's hands was starting to ease up. It got to the point where he was just holding his hands in case he fell. But there was something about the way that he was carrying himself that was beyond the pain; the feeling was intoxicating Naruto's sanity. What the hell was he thinking?

"Why are you being so nice to me, Sasuke?" Naruto asked as Sasuke stopped for a moment. "Usually you hate me more than anything; you always call me idiot and moron…"

"Well, you always call me bastard and drama queen," Sasuke countered.

"That's not what I mean… this whole time you've been acting so nice around me. You've been acting like I actually matter to you. Even though you keep all of those horrible names, you still ask for me help. Why?" Naruto asked holding Sasuke's hand. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Let's just say, best friends are hard to come by," Sasuke closed his eyes.

"_He's killing you! And I'm not going to sit back and let it all happen."_

"Really hard…" he felt tears well up behind his eyes.

"_Then you don't have to…"_

Naruto looked into Sasuke's eyes; there was another deeper meaning to what he was doing. With Sasuke every move that he made, it all had to do with an experience in the past that went a different route than expected. He was trying to make up for all of the pain in his life with everything that he did, like it was all going to get better.

"Well I'm here," Naruto answered. "And I'm staying until you make me leave…"

"I know," Sasuke breathed. "And I want to thank you for helping me with this."

"It wasn't a problem," the blond continued. "It's no trouble at all, I like assisting you. The sooner you get out the sooner we all can go back to normal, and I want you back to normal, Sasuke; I don't like to see you in pain."

Sasuke smirked. "I guess these past few days were difficult for you then, especially when I… you know… went into cardiac arrest. I'm sorry that I did that to you. If I could take anything back, it would be what I did that day to you."

"It was hard when they called the morgue," Naruto sighed. "It was even harder when they gave up. I-I convinced them to bring you back when all was lost. I wasn't going to give up on you. I'm not going to lose like that Sasuke I care too much I guess, but it was my fault that you were in here in the first place."

"Naruto, this isn't your fault, there was nothing that you could have done to stop it from happening. And it's over; all we can think about now is how we're going to get me out of here sooner," Sasuke continued. "You want to help don't you?"

He moved closer to his best friend. "I made a promise that I was going to help you with your revenge. I'm going to get you out of here." He touched his face. _I will see those eyes light up with happiness once again. I'm going to get you back Sasuke. I'm not going to lose you… I won't let myself allow you to slip away._

Sasuke looked out the window as he stood up freely. "Do you know how much this hurts?"

"Who?" Naruto asked. "No…"

"When I was young, learning how to walk it seemed so hard; I always needed my mother's hands to hold me up. And when she didn't do it… _he _was always there to help me. Sad that I had a child help me learn how to walk. He never pushed me too hard and he never asked too much from me…"

"Who?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke sighed. "My brother…"

"You shouldn't bring him up all of the time, you're starting to ruin your outlook on life," Naruto stated. "He's not going to take control of you anymore. I promised that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. You've become my best friend, Sasuke, and no one's going to take you away. Not even death."

He smiled slightly as he looked up into blue eyes. "That's selfish…"

"I don't want to lose you, Sasuke, if I lost you… I'd… blame myself for whatever happened. How could I live with myself if I just sat back and you die? I want to be there for you every waking moment and see you smile one last time," Naruto whimpered. "I can't lose you right now, not like this."

Sasuke wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. "Don't overreact, you idiot."

Naruto buried his face in Sasuke's shoulder. "Do you mind if I stay here all night? It's the only way that I'll be able to keep my promise, make sure that you get everything that you want. And the only way I know that you'll uphold yours. You won't die on me while I'm here."

Sasuke smiled as he looked at his best friend. "I know I won't, you'll bitch until they have no choice but to revive me. Besides I need the support while I try to walk. I can't do it on my own."

"Needy bastard," Naruto laughed whispering in Sasuke's ear.

"Moron," Sasuke breathed back before feeling Naruto's lips kiss his cheek. He gasped but he knew that nothing was going to come of it. It was just a sign of him being nervous. Hopefully. He couldn't do what Itachi did to Shisui.

"_I thought you loved me?"_

Sasuke's eyes closed tighter holding onto Naruto's body. No, he wasn't going to kill him no matter how much he needed he power. The vision of pinwheels went through his mind, it was true power. But power turned to pain when he heard the screams, Kakashi's screams while Itachi destroyed his mind. Did he need that much power? And was Naruto's life worth it?

_He wants Naruto, then I'm going to stop him, _he touched his cheek where Naruto had kissed it. _I'm going to win this._ He had to find a way to stop him, one step at a time.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry about all of the SasuSaku in that chapter, but once Itachi comes back in, the amount of SasuSaku will shrink (Chapter 8). Thank you for putting up with how long it was, you guys are awesome. So what did you think? Hate it? Love it? Honesty is the law here. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **Won't be owning this any time soon.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains coarse language (a lot of the f-bomb), sexual content, skewed thoughts on rape, OOC, and canon is disregarded. This is the shortest one of all of the chapters I've posted so far, but it's still pretty long, thanks for putting up with me.

**Pairings: **References of ItaSasu, SasuNaru, slight SasuSaku and SasuIno, traces of NaruSaku.

* * *

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked as he shook Sasuke's body. "Are you asleep?" the shaking continued as he heard Sasuke moan in protest. "You lazy bum, there's no way that we're going to get you out of here if you keep on falling asleep." 

Sasuke's eyes opened his voice low. "Am I walking yet?"

"Barely," Naruto scoffed. "You're too tired; you need to go to sleep."

"I am not tired," Sasuke breathed looking at the sky through the window. The last thing that he needed to do was fall asleep. Whenever he closed his eyes he heard the screams coming from that room during the nights. He heard the way that his father was talking to his brother. He could hear the way that his brother spoke to Shisui outside of their house. He didn't want to resurrect the feelings that those nights caused him. He wasn't going to try to justify the reasoning of why his brother so easily, why he did the horrible deed four years ago.

"You're worn out," Naruto breathed. "Come on; sleep for a little while, you have plenty of time to learn. Besides, if you don't sleep you're going to go insane."

"If I do sleep I'm going to go insane," Sasuke breathed. "If I even think about closing my eyes he's going to be right there… and I can't have that. I have to eliminate him, before he does anything else."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You should still go to sleep."

There was a silence as Sasuke looked out the window remembering that night. It was all fine until that moment. He could still hear the screams seeping out of his throat as Itachi spilled his blood. He remembered the look in his eyes. There was no mercy in those irises, nothing but pleasure from his sadism.

_I want to see him again, _a part of him told himself. _I want to feel him up against my body again. I want to feel the way that his lips felt up against mine. Maybe he does still care and I'm starting to break through all of the layers that he had smothered himself in. _He took a breath. _Bullshit, Sasuke, he's the same prick who made your life hell._

His body ached for him, yearned for him, needed him more than he had ever needed anything. He was addicted to Itachi's presence and he never wanted to let it go. It was getting to the point where when he thought about killing him… it brought tears to his eyes. He wasn't sure he could do it.

"Naruto…" Sasuke breathed. "About what happened earlier… why did you… kiss me on the cheek?"

The blond blushed slightly. "I-I-I'm sorry about that. It was an accident. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. It was just a reflex I guess…"

"A reflex?" Sasuke asked, he knew it was a reflex; he did the same thing to Itachi when they were young, only his was on the lips.

"You seemed like you needed to calm down, and the only way that I could get through to you was through that kiss. And it was only on the cheek, I didn't mean to intrude on you if that's what you're thinking," Naruto shook his head. "I'm not into that kind of thing?"

"You mean having sex with men?" Sasuke asked.

"Sex? I was just talking about kissing, Sasuke," the blond blushed brighter. "And I don't make it a habit to kiss my best friend. I can hug you, I can hold your hand, I can sleep in the same bed as you, but I can't kiss you."

"That sounds reasonable," Sasuke answered with a smirk. "But why can you do all of that in a bed with me when you know that I have kissed a boy before… _consensually_?"

Naruto pushed the stray hairs of out Sasuke's face with a smile. "I trust you."

"You trust me?" Sasuke asked. "But why? After all that I've done to you, after how I treat you, you still trust me?"

Naruto nodded. "You're a good person."

_Good person?_ He had never considered himself to be a _good person_. That meant he was pure, he was far from that the day when he vowed that he was going to kill his brother. Would a good person ever want to spill his own blood? Apparently Naruto saw something in his since day one; he saw that there as still a pure side of Sasuke. He knew that in his heart he cared about life.

"You idiot, you think I'm a _good person_?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I do," the blond smiled. "Come on you're my best friend, Sasuke, there's no way that I'm going to think that you're horrible. You have a cause, and people still care about you and through it all you haven't been shutting those close to you out. I've never seen Sakura smile the way she does these days, she always wanted your attention and you finally gave it to her. You've made her so happy."

"I enjoy her company," Sasuke answered. "I can do without, Ino though. She's so annoying… does _that _make me a bad person?"

"No, that makes you human. If Ino Yamanaka had a crush on me, I would probably kill her. You have more patience than I will ever have when it comes to girls. But Sakura's a different story. She's a really nice girl and she's obsessed with you."

"I know," Sasuke answered. "She is a really nice girl… pretty too…"

"And annoying," Naruto continued. "That's what you were going to say."

"I was a total prick for saying that to her," Sasuke breathed. "Was out of line."

"I'll say you were, whenever you say things like that I know it hurts her feelings, she _really _likes you," Naruto answered. "You were constantly being a real prick to her, and yet she's right here with you everyday that she can. She goes home at unbelievably late hours at night, and even when you won't let her in here, she's in the waiting room. She wants to be close to you…"

Sasuke's eyes closed. _I don't deserve someone like that…_

Silence filled the room as Sasuke closed his eyes thinking about all that Sakura had done. She was there every moment that went by, she was there since the beginning of this torture. Ever since the day that he was in the hospital, she was right there. He never thought that he would get the kind of attention. She was truly more than he deserved, more than he would ever deserve.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"How does she really feel about me?" he asked looking into blue eyes.

Naruto looked straight at his best friend. "I think… I think she's in love with you, Sasuke. You're all she talks about, and you're the only thing on her mind these days. It's the weirdest thing that I have ever heard, but it's the truth. She wants you more than anything."

"Really?" obsidian eyes filled with confusion.

"Would I lie to you?" Naruto asked.

"I thought you liked Sakura," Sasuke breathed.

"I do, I just can't deny what she feels, it's obvious," Naruto answered. "She wants to give her heart to you, Sasuke."

"But…" Sasuke swallowed hard. "After all that I've been through I know that I can't be the same as I was before… I can't let things get pass me by like they don't mean anything. What Itachi did that night… what he did to me… it was a test… he was seeing if it was going to faze me. For the past four years… I've shut everything out to beat him, but he can still feel pain… I know he can still feel emotion. He tries to hide it… but…"

"We shouldn't talk about him," Naruto soothed.

"He still exists…" Sasuke closed his eyes. "He's still out there somewhere, and he wants me for something…"

"_What are you going to do? What are you going to do to Naruto?"_

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion looking down at his best friend. "What does he want you to do for him, Sasuke? What did he tell you while you were in here alone with him." His voice rose. "What did that bastard ask you to do?"

"_I'm going to kill him…"_

Sasuke sighed. "He didn't tell me anything, Naruto… he was just in here so he could beat Kakashi to me. He wanted to engage our sensei into a full scale battle," he took a breath. "Another greedy reason, that's how he operates."

"_Kill him?"_

Naruto sighed. "I don't believe you, what did he really tell you? Is he after me, Sasuke? Am I the one that he wants?"

"_You're going to deliver him to me to do it to him."_

Sasuke bowed his head as he remembered every single word that his brother said. He was going to kill Naruto. That was his purpose there, and Sasuke was going to be the one to bring him to him. Was it all for the mangekyou sharingan, the only way that he was going to be equal to him? Was Itachi helping him get his dream? Did Itachi want death that badly?

"No," Sasuke answered. "He has no interest into you, moron. He's got a whole agenda, what makes you even think that you're part of it?"

"Because of the fox inside of me," he answered. "Doesn't he want it?"

Sasuke swallowed hard as he looked at him. "If he even thinks about touching you… I'll kill him…"

"Jealous?" Naruto asked.

"This isn't a game, Naruto; this isn't part of our rivalry. This is life or death. Itachi is a twisted bastard, and he will stop at nothing to make sure that I'm in pain," he closed his eyes. _If he wanted me to be in pain, why didn't he kill Kakashi? Why hasn't he gone after you or Sakura yet?_

The words of those nights in their youth came back to him. _"I love you more than anything, Sasuke."_

"You want to start trying to walk again?" Naruto asked, changing the topic.

Sasuke looked into his best friend's eyes. "I-I think that would be a good idea," he took Naruto's hand as he got up on his feet. The thoughts of the kisses, the embraces, the sweet nothings whispered in his ear. _He loved me… _he closed his eyes a tear falling down his cheek. _And I loved him… I still do…_

Pain rose throughout his body, he couldn't wait any longer to get out of here, he had to do it now. Slowly he let his hand leave Naruto's taking a step forward. He had to do this, do this so he could tell himself that he didn't love him. He never did.

His mind swirled around the subject as he looked out the window, getting closer and closer. Reality was gone, all he could see was his brother jumping out of the window hearing the gasp of shock as the glass cut into his skin. He jumped out of a six story window just to get away from the jounin. Why did he do it? Why was he only there for a brief time again? He had to go, and it hurt Sasuke to know that he might never see him again.

_I have to kill him; I promised myself that I would kill him. If I don't… then why am I still alive? Why have I been trying so hard? Was all of this just for nothing? _He leaned up against the window looking down. "It's not raining anymore…" he turned around to see the look on Naruto's face, blue irises lighten up with shock. "What's with that face, idiot?"

"S-Sasuke…" he muttered. "You walked…"

"What?" the Uchiha asked finally noticing the distance between him and his best friend. "I… I walked… I did it, Naruto!" he smiled broadly. "I can get out of here!"

Naruto ran up to him capturing Sasuke in a strong embrace. "You did it! You did it, Sasuke! I knew you could…" a tear fell down his cheek hitting the floor lightly. "I knew you were going to get out of this?" his hand moved lower to touch the small of Sasuke's back, moving up his shirt. "But how does it make you feel… that Itachi is…?"

"You still can't talk about that night, can you?" Sasuke asked.

"It's hard to talk about that. Doesn't the subject bother you?" Naruto answered.

"No," Sasuke breathed.

Naruto's eyes looked straight into Sasuke's. "Are you sure?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know; keep prying if you're so concerned."

"No… I-I… no," Naruto blushed. "I told you I'm not into that kind of thing, Sasuke. It took a while for me to even accept the subject."

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed. "I know this is difficult for you."

"It's more difficult for you," Naruto asked. "I mean, you were the one who was raped, not me. How did he get in the village? The only way in is going through that heavily guarded gate. Those guards are in trouble, if they aren't already dead."

"He could cut through the woods," Sasuke answered. "Or swim through the river, there are other ways that he could have used, Naruto, it isn't necessarily the guards' fault. He's Itachi Uchiha; he always gets what he wants."

Naruto moved his hand from Sasuke's shirt. "So you feel fine?"

"My throat hurts a little, but I do still have that cold," Sasuke complied. "And I have a headache, but you're here… so that's the reason."

"Well I'm sorry, but who was the one who taught your fat ass how to walk, Sasuke?" Naruto asked turning his back to Sasuke. "You haven't changed at all, still the pain in my ass that you've always been. But that's why I keep you around."

Sasuke looked out the window. "After this, you said that you wanted to spend more time with me… I would like that."

Naruto looked back at him. "Did you have a stroke? Who the hell are you and what have you done with my Sasuke?"

"I told you, I want to change the way that we were around each other," Sasuke smiled. _That's the only way that I'm going to keep Itachi off of you. If he can't get me to bring you to him, then his plan is a total flop._

"You really want to spend time with me?" Naruto asked.

"I do," Sasuke answered happily. "I want you to know that I'm not going to make the same mistake that I did earlier. I'm not going to shut you out. I'm going to let you in, we're best friends after. It's about time we acted like it."

Sasuke looked out the window. _My lucky day is approaching, the day when I finally get out of here. Am I ready to do what I have to when it comes time? Will I be able to kill Itachi? Even if I do… love him? My feelings are clouded by his words. I don't know who he really is. I don't know which personality is my brother, and I don't have time to find out. I can't second guess my motives._

-----

_He told me to leave him again, why does he always do that? _She looked around the empty hospital waiting room. Even without him wanting her there she wasn't going to leave him. She heard the whispers of the doctors, today was the day when Sasuke was supposed to be let loose. _Is he ready though?_

"You okay, forehead girl?" Ino asked from next to her a grin on her face. "You've been silent for an hour now, something interesting about the door?"

"The day when I brought him here… he went through that door, and today he might be coming out that same door. For days now I've been sitting here waiting for the day when he was going to be alright. There were times when I thought that he wasn't going to get out of there alive."

Ino rolled her eyes. "So melodramatic."

"It's not melodramatic," Sakura continued. "His heart, Ino… I don't think it's strong enough for him to continue on like this. I saw him lying dead on the hospital bed, watching as the doctors called the morgue… I never wanted to see that again."

"You mean he died?" Ino asked, her voice finally showing interest. "Sakura…"

Sakura never took her attention off of the door. "He's so strong, he's been on the other side twice, and still he hasn't broken completely. He's an inspiration and I love him more because of it…"

"You're delusional," Ino sighed. "There's no way in hell that he is ever going to get out of there. The doctors just left a few minutes ago to see if he can even stand. Even for him that's too much pain."

Sakura laughed. "It's amazing…"

"What's amazing?" Ino's ice blue eyes narrowed in hate.

"After all this time of being obsessed with him," Sakura pushed a few pink strands out of her face. "You still know so little. He's going to get through this. He promised himself," she took a breath. "He's an avenger… he's more than a pretty face, Ino. You only like him because of how he looks. I know what he's like on the inside. I know that he's not just a jerk, he's still a human. He has emotions."

There was a small silence as Ino looked at the door. "It's amazing that after all of this time… _you _know so little, Sakura. You might think he can love you, but he can never love anything. You have to face that it's all about physical attraction."

Green eyes gazed closer at the door; he was bound to come out of there anytime now. He was ready; he said that he was only going to spend a little time in the hospital or he would feel his life was worthless. The look in his eyes, they were burning with passion as he looked to the day he was going to get out. Vengeance was the only thing that allowed him to stay with them, the only reason why he didn't die there.

The door opened, but it wasn't a doctor, nor was it Sasuke. "Naruto?"

The blond boy walked closer to them with a smile on his face. "They're in there right now talking to Sasuke about how he did."

"How is he?" Sakura asked standing up. "Did he walk?"

Naruto nodded. "Like a pro, we'll be Team 7 in no time at all. There's nothing that's going to stand in our way now."

"Except…" Sakura whispered, "Kakashi-sensei is still in a coma. They say it's bad, his mind, they can't find any real response, it like there's nothing there. He might never get out of it… we might…"

"Don't say that he's going to die, Sakura, we saved Sasuke, we'll save Kakashi-sensei too," Naruto smiled. "The problem is that the country is hurting. Asuma Sarutobi is in there everyday. I heard Chouji say that he never leaves."

"Never?" Sakura asked looking over at Ino. "Is that true?"

The blond girl sighed. "You no doubt heard what happened that day. Asuma-sensei tried to go after Kakashi-sensei but he was too weak to stop him. Asuma-sensei's in rough condition, he can barely breathe. Four of his ribs are broken making every movement painful. He blames what happened to Kakashi on himself."

"That's harsh," Naruto answered. "Was it his fault?"

"That's what Gai says," Ino continued weaving a hand through her blond hair. "He thinks that Asuma-sensei is the reason why Itachi is still out there. If anything happens to Sasuke after this, it's all Asuma-sensei's fault."

Sakura shook her head. "Itachi Uchiha is an S-ranked criminal, that means he's jounin level. There's no way that the other ones would stand a chance if Kakashi-sensei fell that easily. Itachi wiped out jounin of the most powerful clans in all of Konoha the Uchiha clan, what makes you think any of us stand a chance? And yet Sasuke's running after him, he won't make it."

"Itachi doesn't want to kill him," Naruto answered looking out the window. "Why else do you think he's alive? He had so many opportunities to kill him, it' more than just coincidence that he passed all of them up. He's up to something…"

"It's out of our hands," Ino explained. "We're not highly ranked enough, and besides, if his only interest is Sasuke maybe we should let the two on them meet up."

"So he can rape him again?" Naruto asked shaking his head. "We don't know what he wants… and I know that if we bring any of this up around Sasuke… he'll hurt himself or somebody else. I'm not going to let that happen," he looked over at Sakura. "He wants to be closer to us, Sakura, you especially. Don't let him down."

"You're still blaming yourself," Sakura whispered. "Aren't you, Naruto?"

"How am I supposed to feel?" Naruto asked. "Anyway, he's going to be down any minute now…"

"You mean… he's done?" Sakura asked with a smile on her face. "He's going to be alright with all of those weak muscles?"

"They say he should keep from any strenuous activity, but other than that he's fine," the blond boy smiled. "He asked me to stay down here and wait for him. He apparently had something to do before coming down here. He really wants to be alone; all I remember is that serious look in his eyes. It must be pretty important to him," he looked at the door. _But what is it? Where are you Sasuke?_

-----

He strapped on his shoe looking down at his feet. _This is it, I'm finally free. _For once in a long time he could breathe, the stiffness in his chest a disappeared. He got everything back. Luck was on his side, life still clung to him while others would have died by now. For once he felt he could live with pride, like he had a sense of dignity.

"_And you got out with your life, there are people your age that go through the same that you do and they aren't lucky enough to come out alive. They die right there and it's Hell. And not only are you alive, but no one has turned their back on you."_

He could hear the sounds of pain coming from Kakashi's lips as Itachi attacked him from the inside. The screams echoed off of the walls of his sanity destroying all that he had left. Was it all his fault? If he had just spoken up would Kakashi still be alive?tachi once told him all he had to do was say stop.

_Kakashi… _he thought as he looked over at his forehead protector reaching for it. _You were right; there was nothing that I could have done to stop him, and now... I still can't. _He took the forehead protector into his hand as he stood up looking behind him. It was over, after a painful visit in the hospital he was finally free. Stiffness returned as he remembered, shattered glass, screaming, blood, all of it was in this room. He could still see it, the look in his brother's eyes as his hair was held in Kakashi's hand. Pain.

Moving slowly to the door he closed his eyes remembering back to the bell test. Kakashi always believed in teamwork, yet Sasuke had betrayed the principle. Still his sensei didn't look at him with disgust; he let it be, knowing it was out of fear for Itachi. But was fear worth Kakashi's sacrifice? Was it worth never being able to hear his voice again?

He moved toward the elevator pushing the button remembering his brother's lips that day, they were sympathetic as they always were. He could feel in the caressing hands up against his face that he didn't want to hurt him that day. Itachi was there in peace, so long as Sasuke wished to keep it that way.

The elevator came as Sasuke walked in looking at his forehead protector, his eyes watering lightly. _I guess I've seen the pain that you wanted me to see, Itachi. I just watched my sensei die and I watched you do it. _The elevator ride was slow as he moved the forehead protector to its rightful place on his forehead. He tied it tightly. This was the life he had chosen, he had chosen the path of absolute pain. Staring at his reflection in the door, he saw what had happened to him, he was no longer the person that he was before. He looked like hell.

The door opened on his desired floor as he looked at the room numbers. _He's in here somewhere. I have to see him one last time before I put my fears to rest. I have to see you, Kakashi. _He looked at all of the room numbers until he found it, the dark aura of death seeping from under the door.

"Kakashi?" he asked pushing the door open, the aura proved to be right. The beeping of the EKG, the drip of the IVs, it was death right in front of him. _Is this what Naruto and Sakura saw in me? _He closed the door behind him walking into the rays of sunlight. "What the hell happened, Kakashi? How did you let yourself get into that situation?"

Beeping filled his ears as he closed his eyes. It was gloomy, morose, the angst whirling around him in a dark cloud. So much pain, and once again he couldn't save himself from it. Itachi won another round.

"I know… I fucked up, I _really _fucked up, and it hurts me to know this is my fault," he started his voice breaking, his eyes burning with the feeling of tears. "I just sat there, Kakashi, if I had never left them that night, if I had just stayed with them like I was supposed to I wouldn't have watched that. You were always looking out for me," he shook his head. "But… I… I didn't ask you to do that. I didn't ask you to come in there, you just did. You always said that teamwork was the back bone of a civil team."

Naruto was waiting for him in the waiting room probably with guilty eyes and sorrowful thoughts. If only he had known what happened that day. He was the one who let Itachi in; he was the one who let him go. Now all Sasuke could do was live with his mistakes, and watch as his own eyes got colder, like his.

"I wasn't there for you, Kakashi," Sasuke breathed. "The whole time I was worried about, Itachi. Did you know that he could die at any moment? I disabled his chakra flow," he sniffled sorrowfully, his body starting to shake violently. "I remember so clear the day when I hit him. The way that he screamed made a rush of joy that I haven't felt in years run through my veins. I did it, Kakashi; I made him pay for what I did to me all of those years. I made him pay, but again it wasn't good enough, I'm never good enough."

His vision clouded with sorrow as fought the tears that were coming to his eyes, he couldn't cry. Twenty-fifth principle. He had to remember the lessons that he learned in the academy, all of those tests that he aced. They weren't for nothing; it was how a ninja lived. It was more than killing.

"_A ninja is more than you think, it's more than weapons. Being a ninja is an art and you don't have the capability to hold that title, you never did, Sasuke. Art is more than just paint and clay, it's pure raw talent, a ninja is an embodiment of that. You're too weak to hold a candle to half of our clan. You call yourself an Uchiha!"_

"I called myself an Uchiha, and once they were proud of me for it. I received my rite as an adult of the clan when I was eight with the fireball jutsu. I know that now it was all a waste, I was still a child," a tear fell down his cheek leaving warm grief in its wake. "I was too weak to do anything about this, I couldn't hold him off and you'd hate me if you knew why Kakashi. I'm a fool for talking to you about this, but I don't need someone to listen, I need to get it off of my chest," Sasuke swallowed hard. "When he touched my lips… held me in his arms before you came in… my heart raced with exhilaration. For once I was getting to the Itachi that I once knew, the one that I respected."

A burning sensation took hold of his chest as he tried to understand the words. They were still the in the process of him trying to understand them. They still felt so wrong for him to even think about it, making his stomach churn faster than it ever had before. He hated himself for what he did, and he hated himself for his own feelings.

"Kakashi… the reason that I didn't help you was…" the words weren't coming easily. "I-I think that I love him… I think I'm in love with Itachi. The night when he raped me, a part of me was telling my body to give into him. I was slightly enjoying it. I guess that makes me a masochist, a sick masochist," another tear fell. "I love him, Kakashi, and I don't regret losing my virginity to him even if it was rape."

He swallowed hard. "I-it can't be rape… it's no rape if it's something that you wanted all along. I could have moved my hands, but that predatory look in his eyes made me realize that it was time to fighting and give into lust. I wanted to have sex with him. I have to tell you this… since I was eight I wanted to fuck my brother… but I was too scared… too weak… too young… now I knew I was ready," his voice broke completely. "All of these years they were a waste, four years of my life were a waste of my time. They were a waste… but they were worth it. They were worth it!"

Feelings took over as he let out a loud scream starting to sob on Kakashi's chest. "It was worth it, Kakashi, it was worth it… I love him… I love him with all of my being, all of my soul," his fingernails embedded in his sensei's shoulder as he sobbed harder, the tears running down his cheeks fiercely. There was no end to the tears; it seemed that even though the rain had stopped more sorrow was still falling. It was relentless

"I didn't protect you because I was in love with him," Sasuke breathed listening to the pulsations of Kakashi's heart through his chest. "I hate myself because I love him, but I can't stop. I thought it was all over, but at night… there are times where I feel as though my body is betraying me. My emotions belong to him, but my soul is telling me to destroy him. I don't want to love him… if he doesn't love me…"

"_I love you more than anything Sasuke…"_

"… but I think he loves me," Sasuke breathed his body shaking. "I don't know what I feel… nothing is making sense. You were right; there is nothing that comes of revenge other than feeling empty on the inside. I'm empty… there's nothing behind my eyes anymore. I-I don't even know if I'm alive…"

The beeping of the EKG filled the room as he took a deep breath. "Oh well… not like you can hear me anyway… thank God you can't… you'd kill Itachi for even thinking about loving me…" he looked at the clock. "I'll be back soon, Kakashi, even if you aren't here I want to be near you. You taught me everything that I know, and I'm a different person because of it," he held Kakashi's hand as he sat on the bed next to his body. "You gave me the strength that I needed."

The sun blinded his onyx eyes as he looked out the window. Itachi was still out there somewhere. _You're going to pay for what you did to Kakashi, Itachi, whether my body loves you or not. My spirit isn't going to give up until I see those eyes well up in fear and pain. Someday… I will see you die, no matter how long it takes._

The silence was getting to him, just to hear his voice one more time would make his life so much more fulfilling. He never would get the chance, he wasn't an idiot, he knew there was nothing in Kakashi's mind, nothing but the emptiness and torture. Kakashi's last words were rolling through his head.

"_Fight like a man, I'm not just going to let you go, nor am I going to let you take Sasuke, no matter how much you hold back. Are you saving chakra? And what for, this fight is over."_

Shaking, he rose from his sensei's chest drying his eyes. "So much for the twenty-fifth principle, huh?" a smile grace his lips. "I will make sure that your sacrifice isn't in vain. You'll open your eyes again and you will see a new me. A better me… the best of me." He held Kakashi's hand tightly. "I'm going to make you proud of me, Kakashi; I'll be the best student you ever imagined. I promise…" he reached over and held one of Kakashi's gloves. "I promise you…" he tucked the glove into his pocket as he looked toward the door. "I have to go, Kakashi, I'll be back soon…"

He walked toward the door still drying his eyes from all of the tears. He was supposed to be a ninja and that meant living up to the standards. His hand moved slowly over his pocket touching the glove that was buried inside, he was never going to forget what happened, he had to be stronger. He needed more power to overcome love.

_I'm going to kill you! I'm an avenger… there's no way that I'm going to lose to you anymore, Itachi. I'm becoming stronger than you… I have to kill you to prove that I don't love you. I won't give in… no matter how much I want to._

-----

"There he is!" Naruto cried out as he looked at the doorway to the waiting room. "Sasuke, you're alright!"

Sasuke walked closer to them his hand still situated over his pocket. He was going to keep the glove until further notice. Even in the absolute deepest hole of his pain, all he could think about was his brother's face, the smiles that were on his lips all of those years back. What did he really feel in his heart? Did he want to kill Itachi or did he want to embrace him? Either way his heart would never be at peace.

"I was wondering when you'd get down from that room," Naruto smiled but it faded as he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Damn, you look horrible."

"That's exactly what I want to hear when I get out," Sasuke shook his head. "After all of this time… you're still clueless, Naruto. I was up all night trying to walk; do you think I'm well rested?"

"First thing you do when you get out is bitch," blue eyes rolled. "You're such a drama queen…"

Sasuke's attention was taken from Naruto to Sakura, her green eyes welling up with tears. She had seen the most pain that he had gone through, but he thanked God that she was spared the image of Kakashi's undoing. Slowly he moved his hand to take hers tightly, pulling Sakura closer.

"I'm sorry, guys…" Sasuke started. "I should have stayed with you that night. I made a mistake. I was a real ass to you for the last couple of days, and if there's one thing that these last few days told me it's that with my pathway I don't have much time left," he looked at his teammates. "So do you guys hate me or what?"

"No," Sakura stated hugging him tightly. "I'm glad that you're out of there alive. There were times where you scared the living hell out of me…"

For once he felt his arms wrap around her unsympathetically, her body letting out a gasp as he did so. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt her during this; it was his battle and his alone. He kissed her cheek lightly as he closed his eyes.

"Let's go guys," Sakura smiled, letting go of Sasuke. "It's a beautiful day outside."

Sasuke watched as his teammates walked forward he touched his pocket lightly at then looked at the sun. Kakashi was always going to be with him whether Itachi tried to take him away or not. His quest was in action to avenge Kakashi and prove that he wasn't in love with his brother. His heart didn't beat for him, it beat for himself.

"Sasuke, are you coming?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah…" Sasuke answered shakily his hand in his pocket touching the cool metal of the jounin glove his eyes closing as he thought back to what he was leaving behind. He would never forget what happened.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter was almost a complete filler, but this closes the "Sasuke in the Hospital" arc, now onto the "Itachi's Diabolical Plan" arc. Itachi will be back for sure in the next chapter as will some hardcore ItaSasu, so you all can look forward to that. What did you think of this? Good? Bad? Just want to get to the ItaSasu? Honesty is always good. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Naruto, if I did Kisame's voice in the dub wouldn't be so horrible.

**Warnings:** The chapter contains a yaoi incest lemon, it also contains crude language, violence, skewed thoughts on rape,OOC (you'll see what I'm talking about), and the canon is getting killed (nothing is going the way the show wants it to!) This chapter is also long, so please forgive me for that and there might be some mistakes I didn't pick up.

**Pairings: **Hardcore ItaSasu!

_

* * *

It's good to be free from that prison, I can finally breathe again._ He looked into the cup of tea that was in front of him, his eyes still empty from all of the pain that he had seen. The glove in his pocket was digging into the skin of his leg painfully; touching it lightly he tried to sooth the pain. Kakashi was getting farther out of reach 

He was in his own house at long last sitting on his bed drinking a cup of jasmine tea. _Jasmine_, how could he even think about enjoying that taste? After all that word had done to him. Yet how could he not? There was something about the taste, it was intoxicating. With every swallow he felt ecstasy course through his veins taking control.

"Itachi," he breathed as he took a breath of the vapors rising off of the cup. He wanted to be alone; the last thing that he wanted was for his team to be with him. But this time instead of them being worried, they just smiled knowing that he was back to the old Sasuke that they knew and loved, yet on the inside he was never going to be the same.

The glove was put on his pillow as he finished off his tea. Itachi could walk through that door anytime. The time in the hospital was over; it was time to talk more about the nine-tails. What exactly was his brother up to? Why would he go out of his way to come back and see the younger brother that he had deemed weak?

_Does he want me to get the fox?_ He shook his head. No, he wasn't going to let that happen, he had made a promise that he intended to keep whether Itachi was going to persuade him or not. But what if he got _violent_? He had shown his real nature before. Sasuke might not have the mental strength to fight him off, he didn't before.

That night, the first night that they had sex, ran though his head. Still he couldn't stop thinking about it. The pulsations still ran through his body remembering his brother's weight on top of him. _Itachi! _His eyes closed tighter as he took another sip of tea. The cup fell lightly onto the mattress as he closed his eyes tighter. _Itachi…_

Ignoring the stains that were on his sheets he closed his eyes tighter giving into the feelings that were so long suppressed. "Again? Why now?" he swallowed hard as he lay back on the bed.

Itachi had done something to him since the day that they met up again. When they were children he never had this much response to him, and he wasn't enamored every time he thought about him. What was he going to do with himself? It was the first week that he was out of the hospital and he's wasting it on thoughts of his brother.

"I'm pathetic," he sighed looking at the gauntlet. _What would Kakashi say right now? I'm not with my teammates again. But the likeliness of anything happening is slim to none. At least I hope it is…_

He snuggled closer to the pillow, the doctors recommended that he stay in bed for a little longer and he was going to do it. There was no more defiance. Besides, it gave him time to formulate his attack on Itachi without thinking about the love that they once shared. He was an avenger.

Some avenger that he was, here he was thinking about all that he could do to obtain the love from him that he never got before. He wanted him more than anything he had ever wanted before. The pathway to vengeance was a confusing one and he was finally led astray by his actions. Nothing was going to stop thins from happening, the dreams, the thoughts; they were there forever even if Naruto and Sakura offered to stay by his side. _They'd only be in my way. Besides I don't want them to see me like this._

His body was crying out as he looked at the glove remembering that day in the hospital room. Itachi had given him the sweetest kisses that he had ever had in his whole life, he made him part of Sasuke forever. Now he only left an unfed desire growing inside of him like an inferno. He was disgusting. He wasted all of his time on useless thoughts of killing his brother, yet now he wasn't sure if he could do it.

Dark clouds gathered around the sky, dim eyes looking through the dusty glass. Days like this he always knew meant trouble; the clouds were darker than usual. It didn't just mean rain, there was going to be a storm. He didn't do well during storms as his teammates never knew. He tried to hold back around them not giving into their sympathetic looks as he gasped whenever one started. It was more than fear, more than a nightmare come true, he would rather die. There were times where he would sometimes wet the bed, a secret that he'd rather not tell anyone. It was all because no one was there to comfort him, Itachi's arms were gone. Now it could happen again.

_I guess I never really get over that fear, _he curled into a ball looking at his feet his vision blurring in the dim light. When was he going to come to try to get the answers out of him? He couldn't wait any longer for the end to come. If he was going to come to torture him why didn't he hurry? It was painful.

"_I'm not coming back here. I'll find you Sasuke, I promise. And I swear that I'm not going to repeat what happened a week ago."_

His eyes moved to the doorway of the bedroom. _Do you really mean that, Itachi? Are you a man of your word like you say you are? My pain has decreased since I've been home; my muscles are starting to feel as though they can move normally. But I don't want a repeat; I don't want you to be so rough with me. _Breath filled his lungs as he sat up; he needed to get out of bed. It had been too long since he was confided in a room. Slowly he got to his feet the floor was cold on his bare flesh.

He moved closer to the door opening it a minimal amount of light coming through the darkness. The walkway seemed cold as he looked into the courtyard in the front. His inheritance was great after the clan died; he managed to keep hold of his old house. The memories still haunted him, people had been killed in there and it was his brother's hand that had done it. Yet it seemed so calm to be away from it all, he was a twelve-year-old living on his own with no one to fend for him. Konoha marveled that he was able to survive such an attack, but now he carried the unbearable weight of the Uchiha clan on his shoulders. It was his job to avenge them. It was his job to kill Itachi.

_I remember the days back when I used to peak out of my door to see Itachi and Shisui saying their sweet goodbyes. I always hated Shisui for that; he was stealing Itachi away from me. You never had time for me did you, Itachi? _He walked into the courtyard looking around at all of the empty space around him. He was out of the way of the rest of Konoha living his own life. He liked being alone, it made him feel safe.

_But now I don't anymore, where's the safety now? You used to make me feel so safe, but now… I fear you even coming close to me. Your eyes were filled with so little emotion, where are you now? Where is your mind, Itachi? _He looked up at the clouds closing his eyes tightly. The sky was growing darker, the rain would fall soon. _I hate the rain… why now…? We have a few rays of sun and then it's takne away. I guess that's life though, isn't it? Nothing lasts forever. _

Onyx eyes looked back at the door as the first rain drop fell, it had begun. Now he was going to stay in his house only leaving when he knew his teammates would be worried. But it only meant that he would have bottomless cups of jasmine tea waiting for his brother to finally come find him. It wouldn't be long now.

"_I'm not coming back here. I'll find you Sasuke, I promise. And I swear that I'm not going to repeat what happened a week ago."_

What was he going to do, was he going to come armed like last time, with weapons that were concealed until they were needed? Or was he going to come in peace this time like he said that he would? He always said he was a man of his word, but is that true? Looking around, he knew that maybe he was safe for one more day. But Itachi seemed to like to do most of his work at night or in areas where no one could stop him, once it got darker he would be able to be victim to what was about to happen.

_Maybe I'm safe; _he smiled as he looked up at the sky more rain falling. It was cold running down his skin, but he couldn't help but enjoy it. He still had a cold, staying out could endanger his recovery, but maybe it was the only way to clean his soul of all of his wrong doing. Wash away all of the horror that he had caused his soul in the last month. He was going to wash away Itachi.

Water fell vigorously, his hair sticking to his skin as his clothes hugged him tightly. The clouds became darker more rain falling to the ground onto him. Was he going to come even though it was raining? Probably more of a reason, Itachi's last meeting was during a thunderstorm. Maybe he loved to feed off of Sasuke's fear. He was the only one who knew how it made him feel.

"Itachi," Sasuke shivered closing his eyes looking up to the sky. Horror filled him every time the darkness took over his eyes, memories flowing back from the days in this house. His first taste of Itachi's lips. The nights wrapped in his brother's arms. The days when Itachi would come into his bedroom to change his sheets so that mother and father wouldn't know that he had an accident. It was all of the positive thoughts of his youth, but through the light he saw the real darkness, he remembered the night when the whole clan was slaughtered. The blood, he had never seen so much blood in his life, and he prayed that he would never have to see it again. What was going to come of all of this pain? Was this destiny?

_Why am I the chosen one? Why am I the one that Itachi chose to avenge the clan? Does he want me to, or would he prefer that I left him alone? _He looked into the darkness; the answers weren't coming easily to him. _Why? Why me? I didn't ask for this… I didn't want to throw my life away just to find out that I wasted it all. It was all a waste, Itachi, but you knew that all along, didn't you? _A tear fell down his cheek. "You cold bastard…"

A tremor filled his body; his body couldn't move when he thought of that night. He was going to freeze to death if he didn't snap out of it. Did he care? No, as of now he didn't care what happened to him, if Itachi came here than he wasn't with Naruto. The last thing that he wanted was the death of his best friend to rest on his shoulders forever.

Naruto was going to be safe; he was going to make it through even if he was going to have to give his own life to win Itachi's twisted game. This was _his_ battle; all other people were to stay on the side. Sasuke wasn't going to lose another teammate, not after what had happened to Kakashi. His soul had enough torture.

_Where are you? You said you were coming back, _he was getting anxious. A part of him wanted to see Itachi again, just one last time before he had to kill him, one last time before he had to prove that there was no emotional attachment between them.

An unbelievable weight from the water was pushing on him; he fell to his knees shivering, still thinking of him. He was soaked, his clothes closely sticking to his skin, his hair dripping violently. Clouds filled his vision, the cold getting unbearable. _He's going to come, and I'm going to take him out before he can get any closer to me. _Black was starting to fill his vision from shock. _No! Not yet, just a little longer…_ he struggled to his feet, his vision slowly swirling away from him. He couldn't take it anymore.

He was falling. Falling forward into the darkness. Falling fast. No matter how much he tried to keep his balance he kept falling closer to the ground. The darkness was here and it was… hard? _What the hell? Did I even hit the ground? _The power of the darkness took over as he took a deep breath and shivered.

"You're still not using your head are you, you're going to kill yourself out here," the darkness stated holding him closer, warmth circulating through his body. This wasn't darkness at all, this was a soothing feeling that he hadn't felt for days now.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed as he opened his eyes moving closer to the warmth behind him. "Is that you?"

Lips hit the crook of his neck as a soft hand touched his cheek pushing his head to the side. The passion that was on his neck was then put onto his lips, the tongue raping his mouth. The kiss was fierce yet there was a hint of compassion deep within of those lips. A moan bubbled from Sasuke's throat as he moved his own hand up against Itachi's chest pushing him back.

"_You_!" Sasuke hissed. "How did you find me?"

"Come on, you couldn't honestly assume that I have forgotten where the old house is," Itachi held the boy closer feeling him shiver. "Poor thing, you've been out here for too long, are you trying to kill yourself?"

Sasuke pushed Itachi back springing to his feet the hold that the freezing rain had on him was gone. He looked into red eyes the anger swirling through his mind. He was back after all of this time. _I was waiting for this moment! Time for me to prove that I don't love him! _He closed his eyes tighter feeling his chakra flow warm through his body, the sharingan activating. The irises that had once been a cold obsidian were now a malicious scarlet.

"Sharingan?" Itachi asked. "For such a petty battle?"

"Shut up!" Sasuke answered his fingers moving to his holster pulling out a single kunai. "This is personal now. I saw what you did to Kakashi. You took more than his life, you took his dignity!"

Itachi stood up brushing the wet hair out of his face. "You didn't have problem before…"

"Fuck you!" Sasuke hissed walking closer to his foe. _No! Don't do this! You love him! _The voices were calling him louder and louder as he moved forward. "Why did you come back?"

Itachi's voice was quiet, weak. "I told you…" he took a deep breath, "… we still need to discuss the fox. You never gave me an answer in the hospital room. I told you to think about it," his red eyes lit up with joy. "Have you come to your final decision or do you still need more time?"

The young boy's breath became labored with anger. "I don't give a damn about what you want," Sasuke's red eyes burned with a deep passion. "I'm not going to give you the fox you bastard! I'm going to kill you for what you did to our clan. I'm going to avenge everyone you've ever hurt." He held the kunai closer. "Don't stop me."

"I'm not going to," Itachi's eyes closed as he moved closer, on his knees right in front of his younger brother, his body loose. "You've wanted this for four years now, haven't you? You wake up every morning and think about how strong you are. Before you go to sleep you analyze what you had done throughout the whole day looking for weakness. You're life revolved around feeling my blood on your hands; well maybe today your dream will become a reality." Slender fingers moved to grab Sasuke's hand. "Do it," he breathed pushing the kunai closer to his neck. "Kill me."

Scarlet met scarlet in a heavy stare. It was the moment he had been waiting for. All of the years weren't a waste at all; they were all leading up to this point. The pulse point in Itachi's neck throbbed visibly as his eyes were filled with so much determination.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "Don't think I won't do it."

"I know you will," Itachi responded. "All of this time you've wanted to do this, you wanted to watch me die. Your heart is in the right place. All of your emotions were stripped so you could avenge the clan that I destroyed. In my heart I know that you're right. Do I really deserve to live after what happened?"

Sasuke's eyes widened with confusion. "What are you talking about? Answer me you damn bastard!"

"I…" the older brother took a breath. "I saw the way you looked at me in the hospital. You really hate me for everything don't you? Like I said I can't blame you, but I don't regret what I did. And besides, I'm making you stronger, something for you to live for, and prove to the world that you aren't weak. Our father would be proud with your progress, Sasuke. You're a great ninja, one to be envious of."

"Stop with the flattery," Sasuke's hand was shaking as he looked down at his brother's face, seeing the water roll down his flesh. It looked like he was crying, the raindrops falling from his eyes fixing his hair to his cheeks. He looked beautiful… so Goddamn beautiful underneath the rain. The voice in the back of his head was returning. _You love him!_

Itachi's eyes closed his hands pulling the kunai to rest up against his pulsing carotid. "Sasuke… I want you to do this to me, why do you think that I came to you that night to abuse you? I wanted to you hate me, detest me. I wanted you to gain the power that you always dreamed of to come back and face me," his hands were shaking. "I hurt you that night to make sure that the hate wasn't going to die on me."

"You did all of that just to make me hate you?" Sasuke asked pushing the tip of the knife lightly at Itachi's neck hearing him gasp in anticipation. "You blew it way out of proportion; I already hated you more than I could ever hate. When I think of you all I think about is the pain that you gave me," his eyes were burning as his chest puffed in and out furiously. "You need to die more now than you ever did before, Itachi. After what you did to Kakashi… I will never forgive you…"

"I don't expect you to," Itachi breathed his voice low. "We're brothers, Sasuke, and we're connected in this world only by blood. You hate me more than anything, yet we will always be connected. No power in the world is going to stop the same blood that runs through my veins to run through yours. You hate what you are."

"Shut up!" Sasuke breathed. "You hate me too… and I want to know one thing," a single tear feel to the ground with the pouring rain. "Why? Why do you hate me that much? I was only a child when you did that to me. You always made it seem like I was a bother, always in your way, and you hated me for it. Why did you hate me, Itachi?"

Eyes met one another the kneeling ninja looking up into the standing's eyes. Water fell as they stood in silence only the sound of their own breath to fill the silence of the rainfall. A set of red eyes closed a sigh expelled from his lips, purple painted fingernails digging into the ground.

"Hate?" Itachi asked. "You speak of hate like it's a simple emotion. No, I never hated you, never once did I wish that you would die? Don't you remember that I was there for you when father neglected you, when mother was busy? You had no one around you, they were all interested in me, and you had to live in my shadow," he shook his head. "It wasn't fair, Sasuke, your expectations were set too high and you were starting to fall behind, and it hurt me to know that our father thought that you were nothing."

Visible tremors went through Itachi's body, every muscle giving out on him. Fingernails were digging into the ground chipping away at the paint. If there was a word to describe what he was going through, it was pain. Pulses went through the knife into Sasuke's body; the breaths seeping off of the genin's lips were labored.

"Sasuke… I never hated you," Itachi answered. "I couldn't bring myself to."

"Tell me the truth," Sasuke breathed his voice tight. "Or I'll slit your Goddamn throat!"

"I never hated you," Itachi repeated. "That night when you were six, the night when father and I were fighting, there was a huge thunderstorm, you remember right. I held you in my arms all night long kissing your forehead lightly, pleading that I wasn't going to let anything happen you to," he swallowed hard up against the metal. "You kissed my lips that night, do you remember, Sasuke?"

"What does that have to do with this?" Sasuke asked his eyes still burning with the power of the sharingan. "What are you trying to prove?"

Itachi's voice grew louder and more fluid. "Sasuke… I never hated you!" his eyes filled with an emotion, unknown to his character. "There's something deeper than that, my driving force for helping you get your dream, helping you hate me more. It's because…" his eyes looked straight up at him. "I love you more than anything…"

Sasuke felt a tear roll down his cheek. "No… don't say that!"

"I felt a pain when I watched father torment you to be like me, when I saw the constant comparison. I saw something that they couldn't. I saw your potential, and they were wasting it slowly, weakening you, killing you. I wanted to be there for you, but everything was in the way, and my hate was growing stronger for the clan. I felt ashamed to be part of it. But you… I always wanted to break your power free," his voice was strong. "I finally took it out by making you hate something, and if it had to be me… it was a sacrifice that I was willing to make…"

"Y-you did all of that to break free my potential?" Sasuke felt his brother's right hand squeeze tightly around his wrist. "But why? Why like that? And that night not too long ago when you took my dignity, that was just to augment my hate? But why? Why did I have to hate you?" his eyes watered. "I respected you, idolized you, I wanted to be you, and you made me hate you. I want to know why you put yourself in the middle of this. Itachi, what are you doing to yourself?"

The kunai was slipping from his hand as he looked down at his older brother. All of this time, for four years he had been aiming to help him obtain his dream of killing him. That's why that horrible night occurred, because he wanted to make his hate stronger, to unleash his potential. Itachi did it to put all of the torture to rest.

"I was the easiest target," Itachi answered loosening his grip on Sasuke's hand. "Who better to hate than your own brother?"

"But…" Sasuke swallowed audibly his grip on the kunai was disappearing. "I-Itachi… in my heart, deep in my heart I don't want to hurt you right now. I know, I've worked up to this moment, hating you, detesting you, just like you wanted me to, but I can't do it," he dropped the kunai to the ground. "I can't do it… not now." He fell to his knees in front of Itachi. "I didn't want to say this, but I know now… I know that there's no avoiding it anymore," his eyes transformed back into black, the sharingan disappearing. "Itachi, I love you too, more than I ever wanted to."

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed. "How long have you felt like this?"

The young boy's tears continued to fall. "For a while, longer than you would think. There were times where I wished that Shisui was dead so I could have you to myself. When I was eight I knew that I wanted you, I was too young to have any real feelings. Now I know that I want you more than I ever wanted anything. I wasted my life on trying to destroy you, and I wanted to kill you do badly," his body was shaking violently as he reached out to embrace his brother. "When you took my virginity I knew that I wanted to take something from you that you could never get back. But now…"

Itachi's took Sasuke's shaking form into a tight embrace, pulling him tightly to his chest. "It's okay…"

"No it's not," Sasuke whimpered. "I wanted to kill you, I still do, but when I see your face… I can't do it," he buried his face in Itachi's neck. "I wish that I didn't love you… I wanted to hate you… I wanted…"

"Does it upset you that I return your feelings? Did you want me to hate you?" Itachi asked inhaling the scent of Sasuke's hair. "Tell me, Sasuke, what did you want from this? You said that when you were a child that you wanted me."

"I still want you," Sasuke breathed holding his brother closer. "I'm sick for even thinking about that though. You raped me, Itachi, I can't let that go off easy, I can't just forget about it. If you loved me…"

"I wanted to set your potential loose," Itachi breathed lifting Sasuke's chin so that their noses were touching. "I can see that I hurt you substantially, but do you regret going there that night? Don't say yes because you were raped. Do you regret it?"

Sasuke licked his lips tasting the rain water. "Sort of… but if I didn't go… then I wouldn't have known you'd be back. My heart was filled with revenge and my mind thought of countless ways to face you, but I could do it and I can't do it now. I'm drawn to you, maybe I'm under genjutsu."

"I would never use genjutsu to obtain your love, Sasuke, you have my word on that," Itachi moved closer to Sasuke's lips. "My feelings are genuine and even if you don't return them I'll always help you get what you want. I'll help you achieve your goal, your dream won't die," he moved to kiss the young boy's lips lightly his hand still tangled in his moist raven hair. "I love you, Sasuke, don't you ever doubt that…"

"_Brother_," Sasuke moaned as he moved forward capturing Itachi's lips in a kiss, his hands pressed up against his shoulder blades. _It feels so good; _he thought, his tongue slipping past Itachi's lips hearing his brother moan, the hands in his hair tightening. "Itachi…"

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed, stroking the moist flesh of Sasuke's face.

"What?" the younger ninja asked smiling slightly.

Arms wrapped around Sasuke's body pulling him in closer, his legs on either side of Itachi's waist. A loud moan bubbled from Sasuke's lips, his brother's smooth tongue running along his neck. His heart was racing fast feeling those sweet lips touch his flash so gently. He wanted more.

"You can be rough," Sasuke breathed. "I-I don't mind…"

Itachi pulled him in closer taking his lips fiercely, Sasuke was practically screaming out in pleasure. His mouth was being invaded filling up completely with his brother's tongue, Sasuke's hands moving from Itachi's hair to either side of his face, fingernails digging into his face.

"Itachi!" he moaned taking a quick breath before his mouth was assaulted. "More, p-please!" his eyes closed tightly tears falling down his cheeks. "I told you I like it better when you're rough with me, Itachi," his body was getting limp. "No more holding back… give me your best"

"You like it rough?" Itachi whispered his voice thick with lust his breathing passionately heavy. "Sasuke, what a masochist you've become over the years. What happened to that sobbing boy on that night?"

"I thought you like causing pain," Sasuke moaned biting at Itachi's neck. "No one has ever made me feel like this before. I've kissed other people but no one makes me feel this way, not like the way you do…"

"I told you," Itachi moaned stroking Sasuke's back. "We start to love what we fear, it become a part of us, a part of us that we can't resist. You fear me but now your mind has derived sexual pleasure from that fear."

"Psychology?" Sasuke asked backing away from his brother's neck, weaving his fingers through his necklace pulling Itachi closer. "I never really enjoyed the sick way that the human mind works, and it's not exactly what I want to hear about when I'm with you. Our moments are short and I want to make every second count."'

"You're obsessive," Itachi sighed closing his eyes. "The second that I admit that I love you, the first thing you do is think that I'm going to be rough with you. I made a promise that I wasn't going to repeat what happened, and I'm a man of my word. You're out of luck now."

Sasuke's grip on the necklace became tighter as he looked straight into Itachi's eyes. It had been years since he saw the glow of real sexual stimulation on his face. The way that he was breathing, his strong arms tightly wrapping around Sasuke's small frame, the sweat forming on his skin being scattered about with the raindrops pushed down to the ground.

A roll of thunder went through the sky, Sasuke's heart stopping in his chest. "Itachi?"

"You never did get over that fear, and I gave you plenty of time," the older ninja smiled. "I'll take to inside, you're soaking wet. I don't want you to get hypothermia."

Sasuke let out a gasp as he was taken in his brother's arms being carried away from the courtyard back into the house. He was so warm up against freezing flesh. _I used to pray for thunderstorms, Itachi, it was the only time where Shisui didn't have control over you. And now… I have you all to myself. _He moved closer to his brother's body.

_This is what I wanted all along to find, some reason of why he did it. It wasn't only to test if he could, but to unleash my potential, and even if it doesn't satisfy me that he's still hiding something, I feel as though I don't want him to leave. I want him to stay with me. I really am a monster. _The door to the bedroom opened his brother guiding him to the bed. "What are your intentions with me?"

"I intend to put you in bed and discuss the fox," Itachi answered sitting the young boy on the mattress. "You're soaking wet, Sasuke. You're shivering, from the cold or your body has finally registered all of the pleasure. Either way, Sasuke, I think it would be wise for you to stay in bed."

"Y-you're leaving?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't you want me to leave?" Itachi asked. "You said you weren't going to give me the fox… that means that I have no business with you…"

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, his voice heavy. "I'll give you the damn fox; just don't leave me… if you love me you'd stay with me through the storm. There are messages going through my body when I look at you right now. I want what you did to me… I want to have sex with you again."

Itachi rolled his eyes and sighed. "I said…"

"You said you wouldn't repeat what you did to me that night. I want it, so it's consensual," Sasuke took a deep breath as he shivered. "Itachi, please, this is the only time that will ever surrender to you. Isn't that what you wanted: the ultimate surrender? Don't you want to feel my body finally give in to yours? This is what you wanted."

Hands moved to the bottom of Sasuke's shirt pulling it over his head tossing it to the ground. In Itachi's eyes he saw a hunger that he thought he would never be able to witness. His hands moved to undo Sasuke's pants pulling them off of his legs leaving him naked. The genin's shivered, how was this making him warmer?

"You're beautiful," Itachi breathed looking straight into Sasuke's eyes, caressing his face gently moving closer. "Now that we got you out of those clothes…" his other hand was up against Sasuke's chest pushing him back onto the bed.

"You pervert," Sasuke hissed passionately.

"Come on, Sasuke, you said that you wanted it?" Itachi's lips kissed lightly at his sternum. "Well?"

A rolling heat filled Sasuke's body, his hands pinned above his body, feeling the fervid kisses trail down his neck to his navel. Wet moans filled the atmosphere, muscles pulsing violently, could he take this torture? His hands shook in Itachi's grip, his legs spreading little by little; he was going to give in. The ultimate surrender.

"Itachi!" he breathed shakily. "I-I…"

Itachi's breathing was thick, his body moving in between Sasuke's legs. Passionate electric sparks were pressed lightly at his inner thighs with sweet kisses, red eyes closed tightly in relish. The contact of lips to skin was muffled by heavy breathing and rushing heartbeats, but Sasuke could feel it.

Sasuke panted louder, the hands that slew his parents running along his flesh. He was deriving pleasure from that very touch. The body that destroyed so many souls and never shed a single tear for his crimes was caressing him so lovingly, being so gentle with him. _Is this the Itachi that he made up? Or was that all a test too? _He didn't ask. His mouth couldn't formulate words as fervid purrs rolled off of his lips. _More! _

His body burned as blood rushed like fire through his veins, his brother's lips still touching his thighs, sucking gently at the moist skin. All control was gone, there was no more holding back on his part. All of the fear, all of the hate, it all left only need was left. More, he wanted more than his brother was giving him. He had become a part of him that he didn't want to disregard.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed giggled. "Stop that…"

His brother backed away from Sasuke's body looking into onyx eyes, obeying the command. "Do you just want a companion during the storm?"

"I don't want you to go out there, Itachi," Sasuke breathed heavily. "I-I want you to stay here with me… you could die out there…" his body was shaking as Itachi's hand caressed his face. "Just stay with me, Itachi. I _need_ you…" his hands moved to push the robe off of his brother's shoulders the garment falling to the ground along with those of Sasuke. "P-please…"

Warmth left his body, hands moving away to the forehead protector tied on Itachi's body. The piece of metal fell into his hands joining the discarded clothes on the floor. The rain fell harder, pounding against the window, the smell of jasmine and sweat circulating through the room in a thick intoxicating haze.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed moving in between Sasuke's legs taking him lips in a passionate kiss. Moist raven hairs stuck to the rainwater and sweat that glazed Itachi's skin, the stray strands adhering to Sasuke's cheek. His breath was warm, condensing on the younger brother's lips with every pant.

Sasuke's hand moved to the bottom of Itachi's shirt pulling it up slowly over his head. "I've been waiting years to have you like this, brother," he held the thin shirt in his hands as he looked at the left side of Itachi's chest, the spot where he'd hit him. In that very spot there was a dark violet bruise. "Does it hurt?" he touched it lightly hearing Itachi wince. "It still hasn't healed," his eyes moved to meet red. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize," Itachi breathed. "That was great chakra control; you put just the right amount into the fist to disable me, but not to kill me. Not many people can do that," his lips hit Sasuke's neck. "You're improving…"

Both of them were on the mattress kissing passionately, hands shaking as they held onto one another tightly. Lust swirled through the room shaking hands undoing Itachi's pants gently stroking the hardening flesh.

"I want to touch you…" Sasuke breathed his voice a low whisper, his hand wrapped around his brother's length. "I wasn't able to last time…" his chest rose and fell as he tightened his grip, his brother crying out in pleasure. "I'm going to make _you _moan, Itachi," teeth grazed lightly at Itachi's jaw line. "I-I love you…"

"I love you too," Itachi smirked moving his hands on either side of Sasuke's body. Red eyes morphed into the black ones that he had once loved, the feeling more passionate than the scarlet. All of the fear that had once hid in the corners of the dark room were now gone, it only left the desire.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed. "P-please…"

Pulling away from Sasuke he licked his fingers lightly, letting out low moans as he did so. The same fingers that invaded Sasuke's body were now in Itachi's mouth moistening. Watching the way his brother's lips moved around the fingers, the saliva that was running down his chin, Sasuke wanted those fingers inside of him. He legs spread wider as his eyes closed tightly, eager for their entry. _This is it…_

"This might hurt," Itachi warned his voice overpowered by panting the pressure of his fingers right outside of Sasuke's body. "But you already knew that."

"Why are you being so nice?" the young boy hissed.

"You made me promise," Itachi smiled pushing a single finger in hearing Sasuke cry out. "I said I wasn't going to repeat all of the pain that I've given you. So, I'll be gentle now."

The finger moved in deeper Sasuke's body starting to adjust, moans leaving his lips with every movement. "Itachi!" His eyes closed tightly muscles tightening in a combination of shock and pleasure, spreading his legs wider. The finger swiveled, did anything it could to stretch him out. "_I-Itachi_!"

As another was added, Sasuke moved his pelvis allowing it to go in deeper to brush up against his prostate. The scissoring motion almost made him lose it right there, his body was on fire, blazing with no end. A warm blush rolled across his cheeks feeling his body getting spread wider, his breath caught in his throat. He swallowed hard trying to muffle the screams of passion, the more he screamed the less he would recieve the passion that he craved. He was getting restless.

"Itachi… more…" Sasuke breathed gripping the sheets tightly hearing the thunderclap outside. He let out a low moan his body shaking; the storm was stimulating him more, made him long for his brother's protective embrace. "I can't take it anymore."

The fingers moved from Sasuke's body much to his disproval, he felt abandoned and cold, but as he looked into his brother's obsidian eyes he knew that wasn't the case, it was here, the passion that he craved for so long. After having a taste of what he could do that night he wanted more, he wanted it all.

Itachi spat in his hand coating himself with the thick moisture, the heat roiling off of his body was filling the closed space of the room, making it harder to breathe. It was getting too heated to even breathe, the smell of jasmine stronger than ever. Sasuke's eyes closed as he took a deep breath. _I wanted this for so long… now I'm starting to think I don't deserve this. _His brother's hands took him pulling him up from his laying position on the bed.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked watching his brother sit up against the headboard looking into his eyes. "Itachi?"

"Don't call me a liar," Itachi breathed holding Sasuke by the hips pulling him closer, "but I might have to break my promise and hurt you so it can become a reality."

"I told you, Itachi…" Sasuke breathed trembling in his brother's hands. "I like it when your rough with me…" his hands moved to caress Itachi's face. "Come on… I can't wait any longer."

A roll of thunder filled his ears as he felt himself situated right over his brother's length. He was filled with a sudden feeling as the lightening flashed: pain. Only in small amounts but he couldn't help but cry out as he was slowly penetrated.

"It's going to be okay, Sasuke," Itachi breathed his voice thick with sympathy. "Take a deep breath…"

Fingernails dug into Itachi's back drawing blood. It wasn't as much pain as it was shock; Sasuke was allowing this to happen to his body. As he felt his body swallow his brother more and more the taste of blood filled his mouth, his teeth biting at the crook of Itachi's neck hearing him let out a moan.

"Itachi…" the young ninja breathed, feeling his body fully take Itachi in.

Sasuke moved his teeth from Itachi's neck to kiss his lips lightly, his body still shaking, his muscles clenching. The room was spinning, the smell of jasmine captivating his senses. Breath stopped for a second as he swallowed hard. "I-Itachi…"

"Are you okay?" Itachi asked kissing Sasuke's forehead.

Sasuke nodded shakily. "I-I'm fine…" his arms wrapped around his brother's body his eyes closing tightly. "Keep going, Itachi… I'm alright…" a tear rolled down his cheek his lips trembling. "I'm fine…"

The first thrust made Sasuke cry out in rapture and agony feeling his pulse rush faster. His arms wrapped tighter his breathing was erratic every thrust sending him deeper and deeper into the chasm of lust. Hormones rushed through his body sending signals hurriedly. _Is this what it's really like?_

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed barely audible above the sound of the mattress springs creaking from the movements of his body. Arms wrapped around Sasuke's body tightly the storm raging outside. He never broke eye contact from Sasuke who was panting and moaning taking deep breathes through his mouth. Heat rushed to his face, a blush forming lightly.

Lips clashed as they moved closer to one another the movements of their bodies becoming harder, hitting Sasuke's sensitive spot from the inside making him scream in pleasure. Itachi was starting to go insane from that passionate warmth that was deep inside of Sasuke's body making his heart pulse harder than he thought it could. He continued to move slowly, the young boy panting with every thrust.

"Itachi!" Sasuke cried out sweat pouring down his skin. "Harder…" his lips took Itachi's again, his pelvis moving against every thrust. Swirling colors were behind his eyes. Sasuke thought that he hated him more than anything. When Itachi came to mind it was all about his blood, but tasting the metallic tang of his blood on his lips made him know that it was pleasure he was seeking all along. Another moan passed the threshold of bloody lips, a shiver rushing down his spine.

"You okay?" Itachi asked, slowing down a little. "The storm? Is it the roll of thunder that's making you tremble? Or is it the fact that you're getting all that you ever wanted. My blood is staining your lips, the blood you've wanted to spill all along…" he swallowed hard on a moan. "Well Sasuke…"

"Both," the younger boy answered looking into his brother's black eyes weaving his hands through the necklace, pulling him close to his lips. "You see, Itachi, I got you right where I want you…" his teeth bit lightly at Itachi's lip, blood splashing on his chin. "You're mine now, Itachi Uchiha… _faster_."

"We'll see who belongs to whom," Itachi purred moving deeper into Sasuke's body making him sweat. "I will always be stronger than you, and that thought is the one that's making you moan," teeth grazed his at Sasuke's neck his manicured nails digging into his cheeks. "You love me because you hate me…"

"I hate you because I love you," Sasuke breathed feeling the thrusting slowing down again. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?" his vision blurred as he felt his back push flat against the mattress his brother's weight knocking the wind out of him. "Itachi!" the change in position, the change of angle, it made his heart stop for a brief moment. "Itachi! Yes…" his body was trembling. "I-I-Itachi!"

"Sasuke!" Itachi's voice was tight as he placed hands on either side of his brother's body, Sasuke's fingers still entwined in the necklace.

"Itachi!

"Sasuke!"

Passion filled the room, the sound of their breathing and the loud creaking of the bed were the only sounds to be heard. With every pulsation that went through their bodies they were closer to the edge, closer to the point where they were going to give into their pleasure. Moans filled the room muffled by a series of kisses.

_I won't last much longer, _Sasuke thought closing his eyes tightly feeling Itachi's lips up against his. The heat was circulating violently through his body; the blush on his face was deeper than before. "Itachi," he whispered feeling the heat in his stomach swirling faster. "I… I love you…"

He gave into the pleasure, moaning loudly, the heat rolling forward splashing onto his brother's stomach hearing a hiss come from his lips. Sasuke's breath caught in his throat, his heart stopping for a second as he felt himself lose it. His whole body shook as he continued to feel the thrusting, the flesh pulsing deep inside of him. It wouldn't be long until Itachi was finished as well.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed wrapping his arms around Itachi's body, his onyx eyes watering violently. The thunder was still sounding outside of the house as the rain fell harder, it was dark and dreary out there, but right where he was lying, it was heaven.

Itachi's body started to become inconsistent, the peak was coming soon as he took Sasuke's lips in a deep passionate kiss, his tongue filling his mouth completely, the young boy moaning loudly, his legs shaking slightly around Itachi's body. The young boy couldn't take it anymore; his body was losing all strength.

Heat rolled into Sasuke's body, hearing the muffled moan come from his brother's lips as the last thrusts were being administered. It was electrifying how much passion went into every movement. Slowly the haze that encircled them was easing up.

"I love you too," Itachi panted in Sasuke's ear. "More than anything that is in this Godforsaken world," he pulled himself out of Sasuke's body hearing his younger brother whimper in disapproval. "You look worn out…"

"Was that the best that you got?" Sasuke asked breathing heavily his whole body still shaking. "I know that you were holding back, I could feel it…"

Itachi smirked lying back on the bed. "You think I held back?"

"You always hold back," Sasuke breathed his body slowly moving to move next to his brother's. "Next time, I don't want you to do that… I don't want you to go easy on me, I can handle it, Itachi."

Sasuke moved to rest his ear up against Itachi's chest hearing the beating of his heart, inhaling the smell of jasmine and sweat. The stickiness of their tenderness was still on his stomach as Itachi breathed heavier. "You look good like that, sweaty and blushing," his fingers dipped into the white fluid. "You're completely worn out," he sucked on his finger passionately moaning at the salty tang of the liquid. "The taste of sweet surrender is addicting, isn't it, brother?"

"Surrender?" Itachi asked watching as Sasuke moved to his knees licking at his stomach. "You never wanted to give into me; you wanted me to give into you."

Sasuke's tongue moved skillfully licking up all of the mess that was on Itachi's flesh hearing his breathing accelerate. It tasted weird to have a part of him in his own mouth, but he couldn't take his tongue away from the tightening muscles of his brother's stomach. Even after the mess was gone, he continued to lick at Itachi's flesh watching a blush roll across his face as he did so.

"Why did you come here?" Sasuke asked looking up into Itachi's eyes. "You weren't intending on sleeping with me, so what was your purpose?"

Itachi caught his breath. "I wanted to discuss the plan with you, but I can see that you're worn out. It can wait as long as I want it to as long as they don't get to him first," he touched Sasuke's face. "I need you, Sasuke, I lost everything and you're the only chance that I have for getting anything that I need back. You're the reason why I came back here; I need you more now then I ever did before."

"You need me?" Sasuke asked.

"I need your allegiance," the older brother breathed his hand running through Sasuke's moist hair. "All I need to know is if you'll serve me and become a part of my life once again. I know that I hurt you, but I feel as though we can put this all aside," he swallowed hard. "I'd do anything… I'd even let you kill me when we're done."

The young boy moved back to his brother's chest taking a deep breath, the sweat still thick on his skin, the smell of jasmine coming off of his body as well. It was all about him, that's why his brother came to the house. It wasn't to just see if he could get another round of sex out of him. Itachi didn't even want the sex. It was about Naruto again. It was about revenge, the only way that he can back at the ones who was the organization that had dropped him.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke breathed. "I'm sorry that they left you."

"I don't need them," Itachi breathed stroking Sasuke's hair gently. "They don't know what they let go. They're going to pay for what they did. They're not going to win as long as I'm alive. I just need you now, Sasuke," he kissed him on the forehead. "But I don't want you to be hurt in this… if they touch you, I'll kill them."

Sasuke breathed heavily as the last roll of thunder ran through his ear. "I'm so cold, Itachi…"

Itachi moved to pull the blanket over both of them his arms wrapping around him tightly both of their breathing patterns upset by their passion. The sweat on Itachi's chest stuck onto his own flesh, the heat rolling onto him. The possessive embrace that he dreamed about was back, listening to the beating of his heart. The heart that wanted to stop was now the one that he didn't want to miss a pulsation of.

His eyes closed as he snuggled closer to Itachi's body a light kiss on his lips. "I love you, Itachi."

Resting his head on the moist crook of his brother's neck, he gave into sleep, his brother's embrace not easing up for a second. The thoughts kept swirling through his head. Was he really in love with his brother? Or was this all just because he heard the same words seep off of his lips? It was genuine, he knew that now, he wanted his brother was more than anything.

The beating of his heart was entrancing him, holding him into a passionate haze smelling the jasmine. The smell brought him closer to his brother breathing gently in his ear. He never wanted Itachi to leave again. He had given him everything now, including his heart and he wasn't going to take that away from him.

"I love you too, Sasuke," Itachi breathed falling into a state of sleep the sound of his breathing sending chills down Sasuke's spine. The sound of his breath and the beating of his heart made him long for more.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know, that wasn't that great of a lemon, sorry for that. Itachi's back... this is the start of a new arc which won't end until approx Chapter 13-ish (you're going to be seeing a lot of Itachi). So what did you think? Good? Bad? Do you think I should just kill Itachi so this story doesn't have to go on any longer? Honesty is my policy, you won't hurt my feelings. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Naruto

**Warnings:** This chapter contains yoai incest, violence, thoughts of murder, slight sexual content, vulgur language, blood, OOC, and now the canon starts to get really damaged (the next arc hurts it worse). This chapter is also longer than the last few that you read, but they only get longer as the story progresses. There are also a few mistakes in this, sorry if it makes you angry.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight SasuSaku, some SasuNaru, a little bit of NaruSaku, traces of KakaIta, and a tiny sprinkle of ItaSaku (I don't ship this, it just happened)

* * *

He opened his eyes to a dark sky, was it finally night time? His body still ached, making it difficult for him to even move. His heart was still racing as memories of what he and his brother engaged in came soaring back to him. They had sex consensually. He could still hear the creaking of the mattress, his brother panting gently in his ear. He never wanted that moment to end, even if it was just a mere memory. 

Moving closer, he kissed Itachi lightly on the neck gazing at the several dark marks that graced his flesh. Maybe it was a little more intense then they wanted it to be. He didn't want to imagine what had happened to his body from Itachi's harsh kisses. He must be worse off.

Breaking free of his brother embrace, he sat up in bed catching his breath pushing the disheveled hairs from his face. His body was sore, his breath tight in his chest, he was feeling the pain of his pleasure. Lifting the blankets off of his body he saw a sight that he feared would happen. On his inner thighs was a series of love bites. _Damn, I didn't even notice… he is talented? _

He stood out of bed gathering his clothes, his legs sore, stiff with passion. The pain was nothing in comparison to the night where he lost his virginity so brutally, there was no blood. The trace amounts of blood that stained his sheets were from Itachi's back where the scratches that Sasuke had embedded were located.

_Itachi looks beautiful, _Sasuke thought looking over at him as he got redressed. The fair porcelain flesh that Sasuke had fallen in love with was caked with sweat. His soft raven hair was tossed chaotically the tie that held it in a ponytail falling down his sweaty hair.

Sasuke touched his brother's face lightly hearing the breath escape his bloody lips his body moving lightly. He looked so _kissable_. His body was calling for Sasuke to caress. The soft sound of his breathing was hypnotizing the boy to no end drawing Sasuke closer to his brother his hands running through his long hair.

"I love you," he breathed kissing Itachi's lips lightly. Seeing Itachi like this again, so defenseless made him realize that his hate was growing weaker everyday. Did he even hate him anymore? Could he hate the man that he just allowed in his bed granting him entrance to his body again? How could he hate the man he had begged not to leave?

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked taking a deep breath. "You're awake? What time is it?"

"3 AM," Sasuke breathed. "You should go back to sleep."

"What about you?" Itachi looked straight into Sasuke's eyes. "Can't sleep?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No."

"Are you sick?"

Sasuke shook his head again. "I'm fine, brother…"

"Did I hurt you?" Itachi asked reaching out to gently stroke Sasuke's face.

"You were surprisingly very gentle with me," Sasuke answered. "It's just a little sore from all of the hickeys on my legs."

Itachi smirked. "I guess I got carried away. Now people will suspect…"

"I don't care," Sasuke sighed. "Whatever they say I'm not going to let them get to you, Itachi, you're my battle and the last thing that I want is for you to be killed because I was too weak. If I can't kill you no one can."

"Like Kakashi," Itachi breathed. "You do understand that what I did to Kakashi was necessary. I know that it ignited more hate for me, hate that I won't be able to diminish. But it did more than that; I know that you're wasted on him. He's suffocating you, Sasuke."

Sasuke shook his head. "You're wrong."

"He doesn't want you to reach your full potential," Itachi answered, "because he's scared of what you can do. You can do more than he ever could; you're worth more than he is, and it pains me to see this, with him, dying right before my eyes."

"Kakashi isn't one to hold me back," Sasuke sighed. "You're out of your mind, Itachi. What makes you think that I would ever listen to you? You think you have all of the answers, and maybe you do, but I made a promise to Konoha, I won't betray them."

Itachi sat up in bed. "You think they appreciate you, maybe they do, but one day, they will exclude you and toss you away. I know what that's like and I saw my wrongs. All that I did was not for them, it was for me, but to be accepted by someone, not be pushed, be respected, it made me actually happy. Now, I have nothing because I got set aside prematurely."

"Don't give me that sap story," Sasuke snapped, shaking his head. "I don't want to hear what a real ninja does and doesn't do. I went to the Academy and was one of the top students; I know how the art of ninja works. You distort it so it fits your own purpose, fabricating a long journey of pain and perfection," his voice was shaking. "I don't walk the same path as you."

"I don't want you to walk that path," Itachi warned. "It only will break you."

Sasuke wrapped his arms around Itachi's body holding onto him tighter. "I'm already broken, Itachi. Didn't you know that after all of this time? The second that I was born I was destined to be broken; I was after all your little brother. You were the perfect ninja, and I wanted to be you. I wanted to be accepted by you. I want to walk down your path so we could share something real, something more than just hate for our father."

"Then join me," Itachi stated quietly.

Sasuke's eyes looked up into Itachi's dark eyes. "Is this what you wanted?"

"I want you to get me the fox and destroy the power so that no one will ever be able to take it away from us. For years I was waiting for the right time to get you, and this is it, Sasuke, I want you to come with me," Itachi kissed Sasuke's lips his tongue slipping past his lips holding him tighter than before.

"Join you?" Sasuke asked as he backed away. "Itachi…?"

"You wanted power to kill me," Itachi breathed. "If you do this for me… I'll let you destroy me. Your dream will come true for once in your life. Self sacrifice is the number one rule of ninja art."

"I don't know if I want that," Sasuke's voice was shaking. "I'm scared of you."

"Scared?" Itachi asked. "Why?"

"You kill everyone who's close to you, and I know that you're using these words so you can get me on your side. It won't work, if you genuinely love me, you wouldn't be forcing me to…" Sasuke whimpered.

"I'm not forcing you to do anything," Itachi sighed getting out of the bed. "Just say no, Sasuke. I'll go get the fox on my own."

"What?" Sasuke asked surprised as Itachi's response. "That's it? You're leaving? All I had to say was no?"

Itachi pulled his shirt over his head. "You thought that I was going to kill you if you said no? I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to walk out of the door and out of your life again, Sasuke. I have business to tend to."

"Are you going to keep running away?" Sasuke asked. "Are you going to leave me alone again, Itachi? When are you going to face your problems and look at me straight in the eyes? Look at me and tell me how you really feel. Tell me!"

Black eyes looked straight at the young boy. "I love you, Sasuke, but I can no longer burden you with issues that you are too young to handle. Walking down the road that I asked you is a high risk. I'm an S-class criminal, if it comes down to it and I need your full allegiance, you might never be able to go back."

Sasuke swallowed hard watching his brother tie his forehead protector back on. The slash through the Konoha emblem sent chills down his spine. He disconnected from the village that turned their back on him, the clan that used him, and now he was disconnected from the organization that had dropped him from their roster. It was not a slash to disconnect from the village; it was a slash to his soul disconnecting from life.

"I'll risk it," Sasuke answered. "You talked about how it pained you to know that I was never going to amount to anything if they kept holding me back. You wanted to unleash my potential and I'm going to let you." he reached for him. "I pledge my allegiance to you, make a pact that says I will never deceive you. I love you more than anything too, Itachi, and I don't want to watch you walk away again. Call me pathetic; call me weak, I probably am, but I don't have enough sanity to watch you go, not now not when I need you."

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked looking down at him. "You'd sacrifice everything you have for me? What purpose is driving you to this sudden change?"

"Like you said," Sasuke stated his body shaking. "Self sacrifice is one of the number one principles of being a ninja. I will help you get your dream. That is my new goal, I will revert you back to the brother that I loved, the one that I wanted more than I wanted to live. I'm going to destroy the beast you've become."

Itachi held Sasuke close to his body kissing at his forehead lightly. "There's no going back after we do this. Is your hate for the village strong enough? Or should we augment it?"

"That won't be necessary," Sasuke breathed. "I just want to know why they dropped you. You're an amazing ninja, and for someone at your age you're ungodly. Why would they let you go of all people?"

"I've been wondering the same thing," Itachi breathed stroking Sasuke's back. "I guess I was too strong for them, but now I'm going to get my revenge. They're going to be sorry that they ever messed with me."

Hands ran underneath Itachi's shirt feeling the soft flesh underneath, lips clashing in an intense battle of strength. Gravity took control as they fell back to the mattress still kissing each other, moans loud in their ears. Passion swirled through their bodies as Sasuke held Itachi close not letting him even think about going to the door. Sasuke poured his soul into his lips his tongue intermingling with Itachi's in an epic battle.

The same warmth filled his body as he felt last night, his brain starting to swirl from the lack of oxygen thorugh his veins. He back away slowly as he looked into Itachis's eyes, he was here to stay until he could easily get out without Sasuke knowing. Thoughts of insomnia plagued Sasuke's mind as he thought that his brother would leave him. He didn't want to be without him anymore. He couldn't live like that anymore.

"Don't go," Sasuke begged.

"You're acting stranger?" Itachi purred, kissing at Sasuke's jaw line.

"You don't trust me?" Sasuke giggled.

"Am I supposed to trust you? For the past four years you've been trying to kill me, Sasuke. I'll trust you when I know that my dignity isn't in danger," he bit lightly as Sasuke moaned loudly. "Or when I feel that you can actually murder me."

"Why are you so giddy" Sasuke asked in a mocking tone.

"I'm waiting for the right moment, and that's not tonight, not here," Itachi's voice was a low moan. "I know that you want a bloody death, a painful death, and I'm going to let you have it. But you have to earn it."

He kissed him again pushing Sasuke deeper into the mattress his hands being pinned down. The passion swirled feeling the way his brother was dominating him, invading his mouth with his tongue. He felt responsive to all of his advances and started to breathe heavily a blush rolling to his cheeks his body on fire. Swirling colors went through the center of his brain clouding his vision. Lost in the passion he moved his legs farther apart letting his brother in between.

"Too soon," Sasuke breathed backing away. "My body, it's not ready for more."

"I can tell, you're worn out from last night," Itachi breathed. "You should rest."

"I don't want you to leave, Itachi," Sasuke begged pushing his legs together tighter, wrapping his legs to encircle him. "And like I said before, I'm not going to let you leave, not after all of the trouble you gave me. I made a pact in blood; I promise that I will serve you in your quest for revenge in exchange for your life, that is, if I still want to take your miserable life."

"A deal's a deal," he breathed his tongue running along the bridge of Sasuke's nose. "I'll stay here until I need to leave."

"You don't need to," Sasuke purred. "I want you here with me, just for a little while longer. We haven't even discussed that lovely plan of yours. I'm here to help you get back at those bastards. And I want you to unleash my potential like you said you would."

"It's hard work," Itachi panted trying to back away. "Your sharingan still hasn't fully developed, but that's what I'm here for. I'm going to teach you how to master it without having that deceitful bandit show you how. His body won't be able to take the pressure that yours can, you're a true heir of the kekkei genkei; it's in your blood."

"How long will it take?" the young boy asked.

"If it gets to the point where your body has become too weak to hold the burden then it might take months or years. That's why if you pledge allegiance to me there's no turning back, once you sell your soul it's gone forever. Are you ready to sacrifice everything to me: your body, your heart, your soul, everything that you hold dear to your heart? Will you give it all away to me? Will you serve me and be my companion, be with me?"

Sasuke's eyes filled with shock. "Itachi… what are you asking me to do?"

"I want you to be with me," the older ninja breathed. "I want to make you mine."

Sasuke breathed harder his eyes closing. "I'll give you everything that you want, everything that I am is going to be yours for as long as you need my services…"

"And I'll pay with my life," Itachi grinned placing one of Sasuke's hand over his chest. "This can all be gone as soon as the fox is dead, only if you want it to be though. You're always welcome to change your mind."

"Change my mind?" Sasuke asked. "I want to kill you, I need to kill you."

"Why?" Itachi raised an eyebrow. "For the clan? For Shisui? Why are you seeking me out, when you tell me that you love me? What is the purpose Sasuke?"

Sasuke took a deep breath closing his eyes. "To prove to myself that I don't love you, Itachi. I want to hate you for everything that you did to me. You took my heart, you lied to me, you took everything I held dear. But you make me so happy, and I hate myself for gaining that happiness. I don't want you as the source. You're my brother. You're a murderer"

"So?" Itachi asked.

"That's incest," Sasuke said bluntly.

"And when did that ever matter to you?" Itachi questioned with a smile. "All of this time you were secretly hiding your feelings, transforming it into hate for me. Your hate was never strong enough, Sasuke. Ever since you were young I saw the way you looked at me, I caught on to the way that you giggled when I held you in my arms. I could see the blush as I kissed your forehead. You've wanted to be incestuous."

"You thrust yourself upon me," the young boy breathed. "I couldn't get you out of my mind. Throughout the day when I saw you walking around the house, I wanted you to hold me. And now… now that I've matured it's not different, but now I understand that my body wants to surrender to you, relinquish all control to you."

"Then let go," another kiss was formed, Itachi's warm lips dominating, his tongue lashing out into Sasuke's mouth. "Do what your body wants."

"I am," Sasuke breathed. "I have been doing what my body wants. I feel attracted to you and I can't let you go. Damn you, all of this time I thought I was able to kill you, until you came back I was ready. I was growing strong just for you…"

"And you can grow stronger for me, for my blood up against your hands," Itachi's voice grew weak as he closed his eyes. "You've already gotten close to my imminent death. I can barely breathe."

"Can't you use medical ninjutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"You think I know medical ninjutsu?" Itachi breathed. "If I did would either of us would be in this situation? I can go on with this pain, I'm strong, Sasuke. I don't give up when faced with a challenge. I won't die."

"Itachi…" Sasuke whimpered.

"I won't die…" Itachi assured him.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke breathed pressing a hand up against Itachi's chest. "You must be in a lot of pain."

"You just came from the hospital," Itachi smiled. "My pain is nothing…"

"Don't act so nonchalant about this, they were overreacting when they put me on oxygen, I could breathe perfectly once they cleared my lungs. But your lungs must be slowly filling with blood. Is that why you're making this pact, because you're dying? Is this a pact or death for you?"

Itachi sighed. "I'm running out of time, Sasuke."

"I knew it," Sasuke answered loosening his grip on his brother. "Why would you come back here after what I did to you? Are you out of your mind? You're dying, Itachi… I… I killed you. I did that to you."

"That's what you wanted though, isn't it?" Itachi asked his breath was heavy. "You got your dream sooner than you thought. You wanted to kill me… here's your chance. I have only a minimal amount of time to get all of this done."

Sasuke closed his eyes. _Not if I have anything to do with it. I'm going to save your life and keep my end of the bargain. Naruto, you're life is mine! If that's the only way that I can stop all of this madness and prevent another tragedy like Kakashi then so be it. I'm not going to lose Itachi again; I'm not going to lose him because I was weak. _

"Minimal time?" Sasuke closed his eyes. "How long?"

"A few weeks," Itachi answered, "unless you suddenly learned medical ninjutsu. Even in my condition I'll handle the higher ninja in this quest; you bring me the fox's body. Can you handle it, Sasuke?"

The young boy moved closer to the heat of his brother's body repositioning himself to rest on the crook of his shoulder. "I'm not a child anymore, Itachi. I'm not the weak boy you left behind. You can trust me with the life of my best friend."

"I knew I could," Itachi grinned.

He kissed him on the lips running a hand through his hair, the sheets rustling. Sasuke felt Itachi breathing, it was harsh. Was he telling the truth to him? Was he really going to die that easily? No matter what the case, Naruto was as good as dead.

-----

"Do you think Sasuke can come out of bed yet?" Sakura asked sitting next to Kakashi looking over at Naruto. "I haven't seen him in a while. Is he alright?"

Naruto stared out the window; Sasuke should have been able to come out of his house by now. But he knew what was going on in Sasuke's heart. Guilt. He saw it as they all left the hospital hand in hand. His eyes had never looked that empty in all of their travels together. Did he think what happened to Kakashi was his fault?

"Naruto?" Sakura asked looking at him. "Are you alright?"

The blond boy looked at her. "Huh?"

"I was trying to talk to you," she smiled. "I was just wondering if you saw Sasuke out today. I haven't seen him in a while…"

His blue eyes closed as he remembered that day, looking straight into the eyes of death. He had never seen that much of Sasuke's blood in their time together. It couldn't be a repeat. Itachi wouldn't do the same crime to him twice would he? Sasuke was home lying down in his bed, that's what Naruto kept telling himself.

_But what if… _he closed his eyes trying to get the screams out of his head, the bloodshed, Sasuke was not going to let that happen again. After Naruto tried his hardest upload his promise he hoped that Sasuke would have the courtesy to uphold his.

"Hey," a voice greeted from the doorway. "Long time no see, huh?"

The two genin looked back to see their comrade at the door, in one piece. He had a forced smile on his face never taking his eyes off of Kakashi's body. His onyx eyes were blank and when Naruto looked deeply he saw trails where tears had once fallen. Sasuke was in pain with every step that he took forward, every step piercing Naruto through the heart.

"Sasuke," Sakura smiled. "I was wondering when you would get out of bed. We were starting to get worried."

The Uchiha walked closer to Kakashi's side with the slightest strand of hate in his eyes. There was something deep inside of him that he had been contemplating since the day when Kakashi fell. Did he hate Kakashi for not being strong enough? Or was what they were seeing a strand of self hatred for not seeing what the jounin was planning?

Naruto stood up. "Sasuke…"

Obsidian eyes looked over at him. "What do you want?" his voice was low like a sob. Just as Naruto had feared it was the second of his two choices. Sasuke was going to wind up hurting himself with the guilt. Naruto prayed he would never know how it felt to sit back and watch a person die when he knew full well that he could have done something. His prayer was too late, Sasuke was starting to die.

Naruto moved his hand to clasp Sasuke's looking up into his eyes sympathetically. "It wasn't your fault…"

Sasuke scowled. "You think you know everything, don't you?"

"I know that you couldn't have done anything," Naruto continued. "Kakashi-sensei risked his life to ensure that you were going to get out of that room in one piece, having no fear that you were going to die at Itachi's hands. Why can't you just admit that maybe someone cares about you?"

"Because no one in their right mind would ever want to throw himself in front of Itachi Uchiha no matter how much they cared about someone, Kakashi wasn't fighting for me; he was fighting for the village. Itachi's back you guys and I think that everyone should stay out of his way. He's after one thing, and I hope he gets it. Then he'll leave."

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Don't you see the pain he's caused? He's brutally attacking people without any sympathy. Apparently no one got the message with me; I'm alive because he wants me for some cosmic plan. I'm destined to do something," Sasuke looked back at them holding on tighter to Naruto's hand. "But I won't do it."

_Man, that look in his eyes, it's not Sasuke at all. The Sasuke that I know would never look at me like that. The way that he looked at Kakashi, it wasn't right. It's like something has changed inside of him. _Naruto held onto Sasuke's hand. _I didn't want this I didn't want to lose him this easily. One night really can change a person forever. _

"Naruto," Sasuke started as he looked at his friend. "Can I go with you somewhere, you know just spend the rest of the day together. I want to talk about something with you, but I never really got the chance when I was in the hospital. Now we can discuss it over ramen."

"You hate ramen," Naruto raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"No I don't," Sasuke argued.

"Whenever we go out and eat ramen, you always bitch about it. Sasuke, what's gotten into you? You're never this cold," Naruto stood up to look into swollen obsidian eyes hating the sight. "You can tell us what's wrong."

Dark eyes closed. "I'm fine, I swear I am," he looked back at Sakura. "You can stay out of it tonight when Naruto and I go out. The last thing I want is to get you involved in all of this nonsense."

She looked at him. "Okay… will you two be alright?"

Sasuke's eyes looked over at Kakashi and then back at her. "We'll be fine, don't you worry, Sakura. We'll both be back for you in the morning. I need to talk to you as well about something. Just you and me alone."

Green gazed into blue, something was wrong with Sasuke, he was acting strangely. The eyes that were filled with so much determination and ambition were now bland and filled with a burning hatred that they had never seen before. Maybe it was just the swollen areas around them, or maybe his split lips and bruises had to do with it. His body on its own was giving off a demonic feel, was it too late to save him from his road of self hatred?

He turned to walk out of the room. "I'll meet you downstairs, Naruto." In his wake was a chilling sensation.

"What's has gotten into him?" Naruto asked. "Did you see his eyes, he's been crying, Sakura. There's something wrong with him, something that I can't even begin to describe. He's been quieter than usual, and that tone in his voice."

Sakura looked out the window and then back at Kakashi. "Kakashi said that he was going to change after all the trauma that he's been through. His mind is somewhere else, he's never going to be the Sasuke that we knew and loved. I fear that he might already be gone to Itachi's horrible mind games."

"That bastard better not be stalking him," Naruto cursed looking at Kakashi's unconscious form. "After what he pulled with Kakashi he shouldn't be allowed to live. If there's any way that I can get to the old him and return him to normal, I will gladly do it. Even if it kills me. Even if Itachi dies."

Sakura watched as he stood up walking toward the door. "Will you be alright?"

"Itachi's not on the move," Naruto answered looking back at her. "And as long as you're in here you're going to be alright. He's not going to come back here, he has no business to, Sasuke's out," his eyes looked straight into hers. "Sasuke wouldn't allow him to live if he touched you."

Sakura looked back down at Kakashi. "hy would he touch me? I know that I'm not of any use to him. I'm just a normal girl with no special qualities; S-class criminals go after different kinds of people. Go out and have fun, I'll spend some time with Kakashi."

Naruto looked back at her. _Sakura… I love you… _

-----

_I'm supposed to go through with this, I made a promise to Itachi that I wouldn't let him down, _his vision was swirling as he fell to his knees again retching into the toilet his body was shaking. _I have to do this!_

His eyes closed tightly his stomach burning with every retch more liquid leaving his lips. Thought of the pledge they made, the words that rolled off of Itachi's lips as they pressed up against his flesh. He could hear it all clearly as he remembered the security he felt in those arms. When he was with him he was safe. But as he imagined blue eyes looking up at him dying as he struggled for breath. "Naruto…"

As the rumbling in his stomach ceased, he fell next to the toilet sobbing violently, the burning in his chest returning with every gasp, his vision clouded with thoughts of death. Naruto had to die. It was all Naruto and Kakashi's fault that Itachi was in the condition that he was in. How could he continue his life knowing that the people that he once trusted were the ones who were killing the only person that cared about him?

He wanted to end it, right here, right now. End the suffering that he was watching Itachi go through, end the selfish lies that Sakura and Naruto had whispered so sweetly into his ears, end the fake words of wisdom that Kakashi had once preached about. He was too young to take any of this, and he was too weak to assist Itachi in his grand design. His weakness was only going to bring his brother down.

Hugging his knees tightly he continued to sob trying not muffle the noises just in case someone came in. The smell of vomit running through his nostrils made him gag, his body shaking even more. Naruto had to die, _he_ had to kill his best friend if he wanted his heart to be at rest.

The door opened. "Sasuke are you in here?"

Sasuke flushed the toilet hugging his knees tighter still. "Go away, Naruto…"

Naruto's feet could be seen under the stall door. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke swallowed hard trying to prevent the new splash of vomit that threatened to take control of his body. "Just go away!"

"You don't sound like you're fine," Naruto answered moving to his knees looking underneath the door. "You don't look like you're fine either."

"You shouldn't crawl underneath public restroom doors," Sasuke breathed looking away from him. "I could have been doing something in here…"

Naruto crawled under the door entering the stall. "Sasuke… you're crying…"

"I'll be fine," Sasuke breathed burying his face in his knees. "Now go away, I don't want you to see me like this."

Blue irises had never be filled with that much pain as he looked straight at him, his hands reaching to touch him, soft breathing speeding up into a hysterical series of gasping. Naruto's heat was coming closer to him, his arms wrapping around Sasuke in a tight embrace. Sobs could be heard in Sasuke's ear as he returned the hug trying to soothe his own heavy breathing.

"You're going to be alright," the blond whimpered. "I'm here now…"

Sasuke could feel Naruto's heart beating up against his chest; he could feel his life going through his body. His best friend shook gently in his arms holding onto him tighter, repeatedly whispering "you're going to be alright" in his ear. The tighter he held onto him, the harder the thoughts of that warm body dying came.

"Sasuke…" Naruto breathed wiping one of his friend's tears away. "You've been puking…"

"I'm fine," Sasuke whimpered clasping Naruto's wrist feeling his pulse. _I have to kill him, I promised Itachi that I… I would kill Naruto, but now that I look into those blue eyes… I don't know if I can. But hoe will Itachi deal with that?_

Naruto continued to hold him. "Are you still sick?"

Sasuke's stomach churned as he felt Naruto's breath on his neck. _You have to kill him, Sasuke! You have to! _He pushed Naruto away beginning to vomit again, loud coughing filling the bathroom bouncing off of the walls, more liquid passing his lips. Everything that was around him disappeared into the darkness as he saw blood, Naruto's blood in mass quantities, his cold blue eyes looking up at him. He had never killed a person before and all of this time he prayed that he wouldn't have to, Itachi being the only one, but now to murder his best friend brutally, he wasn't sure that he could do it.

"Sasuke," Naruto cried out stroking his best friend's back. "Are you alright?"

The retching continued his body shaking as he felt his best friend's hand on his back, gently stroking his shirt. He didn't need this; he didn't need Naruto's Goddamn sympathy. He didn't even want to think of Naruto being this close to him knowing that it would be some of the last touches that Naruto's fingers ever made. Everything the boy lived for was going to be taken away from him, including his own life.

"Are you going to be alright?" Naruto asked as the toilet flushed. "What happened? Are you sick?"

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed wiping his mouth. "If you knew that you had to do something horrific, do you think you'd be able to do it?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked in a quizzical manner

Sasuke's dark eyes swelled up more with tears. "If you had to kill me… would you be able to do it?"

Naruto's eyes lit up with confusion. "Sasuke? What the hell are you talking about? I'm not going to kill you, I would never be able to. You're my best friend and your precious to me. There's nothing that would ever compel me to do such a thing."

Swallowing hard Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes. "How would you do it? How would you kill me, Naruto? If you had to kill me, how would you?"

The blond shook his head. "I would never do that; I would never put you in that much pain, Sasuke. I'm not even going to sit back and let you talk about this. What happened to you that night, Sasuke, what did he _really_ do to you?"

"I told you already, you figured it out faster than even Kakashi did," Sasuke answered closing his eyes finally being able to say the word around Naruto. "He raped me, Naruto, and he left me there to die a slow, painful death, but that has nothing to do with this. I just was curious."

"Sasuke, I'm here for you," Naruto stroked his best friends face. "I'm not going to let you stay in here and wallow in self pity. If I do, then I failed you as a friend. I'm not going to lose you again; I've almost lost you too many times."

Naruto moved closer to kiss Sasuke lightly on the lips hearing Sasuke gasp. "Naruto, what are you…?"

"I'm trying to calm you down," Naruto smiled standing up looking down at Sasuke. "Come on, let go get some air. No more tears, there's a whole world out there that you've been excluded from for too long."

Sasuke looked up at him. "Kisses don't calm people down; kisses are the catalyst for more regret. I don't want that regret to be pushed upon you. Every kiss leads to some tragedy; one kiss could be the last thing that you ever experience, and the last moments of your life I don't want them wasted on me."

"What's with the talk of death?" Naruto asked extending his hand. "You're talking like I'm going to die right now. There's no way that I'm going to let you give up on life like this. I know you've been in pain but suicide is not going help ease that. If you kill yourself, I'd have to hurt myself too. I wouldn't let you take all of the attention from Sakura; I want some of it to."

Sasuke looked at Naruto's hand. "You're going to stay near me, even after what I said?"

"I want to save your life," the blond answered taking his hand with a smile. "Let's go, Sasuke, you're going to suffocate in here."

Sasuke took hold of Naruto's hand tightening his grip around the slender limb. The smile that was on the blond boy's face made another inferno form in Sasuke's stomach, he had to kill him. He was the one who would have to put an end to him not only to uphold his pact with Itachi, but also to obtain the mangekyou sharinganto better his chances of his mastering the kekkei genkai.

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed. "Do you hate me?"

"No," Naruto answered moving to unlock the stall door. "Why on earth would I hate you? What did you do…?"

Sasuke pushed Naruto to the door looking straight into his eyes. "If you hated me legitimately, why would you help me? Everywhere you go you say that you hate me, you hate me more than anything, yet you're always there for me." He placed a hand around Naruto's neck. "Why?"

"Sasuke…" Naruto breathed. "W-What are you doing?"

Onyx eyes looked into sapphire. "Naruto, I could lose you at any minute… inside your body lies the spirit of the nine-tailed fox, and everybody wants to have it. They're getting closer everyday that goes by. With just a little more pressure…" Sasuke tightened his grip on Naruto's neck. "… I could kill you right here and right now. But… there's something in your eyes telling that if this ever happened to you I wouldn't be able to live. Naruto… I made you promise that you wouldn't let me hurt you no matter how persuasive I am. Please, don't let me ever do this to you."

Naruto's eyes widened. "S-Sasuke?"

He took his hand off of Naruto's neck and captured him in a long embrace. "Naruto… don't let me hurt you. I want you to promise me right now that no matter what happens to me you'll fight me off Don't give into me or my words," his breath was running into Naruto's ear. "Never give in, Naruto, not if you want to be better than me."

Naruto's hands wrapped tighter around Sasuke's body. "Sasuke… I'm starting to feel claustrophobic. I need to get out of this stall." He coughed lightly. "The smell of your vomit is getting to me."

"Naruto," Sasuke smirked as he opened the stall door. "Always avoiding the subject."

Sasuke watched as Naruto walked to a sink running the water leaning over it. "You know, I'm surprised that you came back here to see Kakashi-sensei, I mean since you lost everything that mattered to you. You had to watch him die."

"Yeah," Sasuke breathed apathetically.

_"He doesn't want you to reach your full potential, because he's scared of what you can do. You can do more than he ever could; you're worth more than he is, and it pains me to see this, with him, dying right before my eyes." _

He looked at Naruto, was he in on this too? Was he holding him back as well? Why would his team want him to fail as a ninja? They weren't how Itachi described them, Naruto still cared. Didn't he?

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked looking back at his best friend. "You seem quiet today, Sasuke."

"I'm fine," Sasuke breathed. _I have to do this… this might be the last chance that Itachi has. He's being taken away from me and I'll be damned if I let that happen. _

Looking at his reflection in the mirror all he could see was the blood, the blood of his brother seeping down his lips. He could still feel the warmth on his face as he heard a cough echo through his ears. He was dying slowly. This was the only way to save him from his dark fate: taking Naruto's tightly he pulled him out the door.

_There's no other way… this has to end. _

-----

The room was dead silent, darkness starting to take over as she looked down at Kakashi's body, he looked so peaceful. Something was wrong in the darkness though as she heard the door opening an alarmed hand moving to grab a kunai from her pouch. Whatever it was she could take it, no matter what happened to her she had to protect her sensei.

"Who are you?" she asked seeing the slender figure in the darkness holding the kunai tighter. "Show yourself."

The figure took a step closer. "You must be another one of Kakashi's young genin," he looked straight at her as he stepped into the light. "Sakura Haruno if I'm not mistaken."

"Who are you?" she asked holding the kunai to point at him, watching him not even flinch. "What do you want with Kakashi-sensei?"

"If I answer your questions will you put the knife away, little girl?" he asked his black eyes filled with benevolence. "I won't hurt you, I promise," she lowered the knife. "My name is Itachi Uchiha, as for what I want with your sensei, I was going to kill him."

She gasped looking over at Kakashi and then back at Itachi. "_You_! You're the guy who raped Sasuke!" she moved closer. "What are you doing showing your face here, you jerk?" she moved over to him his pupils following her every move. As green eyes looked up into his she slapped him across the face leaving pain in her hand's wake.

He cupped his face looking at her. "Good hit…"

"What?" she asked her voice fiery.

"That was a good hit, little girl," he smiled looking down at her. "However a ninja should never just work on impulse. That makes what he does predictable and lowers the worth of the movements. However, you caught me off guard and used just enough force to open me up to a better attack," he smiled broader. "You're cruelty makes you his student for sure…"

She looked up into his eyes. "You're Sasuke's brother…"

He nodded looking back down at her. _This little girl may be the last piece that I need in my plan. I'm sorry Kakashi, but even though you've won a few battles our war will never end. It could have been nice and gentle… you were never one for gentle; it was always so aggressive with you. You enjoy making me bleed. Now I'll return the favor._

"You came to kill my sensei?" Sakura asked shakily. "What did he do to you?"

"That is an absurd question. What he did was something that a human being should never do to another human being. He's so cold, colder than I," he knelt next to the bed holding Kakashi's hand. "That eye, that sharingan doesn't belong to him yet he uses it like an Uchiha, like it belongs to him rightfully. He's a thief."

"Thief?" Sakura asked. "What are you talking about?"

"He poisons the mind making you think that you're a ninja, he lied to Sasuke, he made him think that he could take me out. My brother had to learn the hard way what happens when I ninja gets into a tight situation, he never trained you did he?" Itachi looked over at her with a smile on his face. "Do you know how to deal with a threat, a threat that could end your life?"

Her eyes wandered to Kakashi. "You mean when an opponent like you comes along? You were one of the best ninjas that I ever heard of coming out of this village. You're stronger than any opponent that I hope to face."

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses," he started looking over at Kakashi. "There are ninja that specialize more in one field than others, but a pretty girl like you should excel at multiple arts."

A warm blush rolled across her face. "I'm not that pretty…"

"You're _very_ pretty," he smiled back looking straight into her eyes. "You shouldn't be in a thankless job such as this; you could amount to so much more than being on the same team as Kakashi Hatake. You're worth so much more, my dear…"

"Sakura," she breathed.

"Hmmm?" he asked cocking his head to the side.

"You can just call me Sakura if you want to," her voice was soft shaking as if she was terrified. "Don't have to call me little girl."

"_Sakura_, you needn't be afraid," Itachi whispered stroking her face running his fingertips through her light pink hair. "I would never hurt you, Sakura. I don't strike to kill unless I am hurt first. I'm in perfect condition, you haven't wronged me."

"I wouldn't win against you anyway," Sakura blushed. "Sasuke said my skills are only mediocre and I wouldn't be able to take on any big opponents."

"My little brother is one to talk," he laughed still petting pink hair. "I bet your skills in one area are even better than his. He tends to be overconfident and a little arrogant. What can you do?"

Her green eyes lit up as she blushed harder. "I'm trying to become a medical ninja, but I only know the basics."

"Medical ninjustsu?" the pain in his chest was still pounding feeling his ribs push harder onto his lung. _Could she… could she be the one that I've been looking for, the one who's going to extend my life only if she only does it for a few moments. Oh Sakura, your purpose hasn't diluted after all. If I play my cards right, I could copy a technique. _

"Yeah," she breathed not making eye contact with him. "I bet you can do that."

He shook his head. "Even geniuses have flaws, Sakura; I never needed to know medical ninjutsu. My specialty is genjutsu, it didn't seem important. But now…"

"What?" she asked looking into his dark eyes.

_Keep going, you're getting closer. _He shook his head. "You shouldn't have to be burdened with me."

"Itachi," she breathed, a small tear forming in her eyes. "You said that you thought I was strong, you said that you knew there was some hope for me after Kakashi-sensei has clouded me from the light. If you really think that then understand I can take anything you can tell me what's your problem."

He coughed lightly blood falling onto his hand, his eyes starting to water his body shaking from the pain. As he reopened his eyes he looked over at Kakashi with hate and scorn and then at Sakura. "Do you understand now?"

Sakura saw the blood as Itachi continued to cough. "What the hell happened to you, Itachi? Is that _blood_?"

"The night when I came back to Sasuke, he managed to get a decent hit in. By focusing his chakra into his hand he was able to augment the force driving it right into my chest. He broke three of my ribs, driving one to pierce my lung, not fully, nothing ruptured, but it's shortening my time that I have left. Sakura… I need you to do something for me."

"What?" she asked watching the blood run from his lips. "I'll do anything that you want me to do…"

He looked over at her weakly trying to his grin. "How is your medical ninjutsu?"

"It's mediocre," she whimpered holding his hand, feeling him squeeze tighter out of pain. "Are you going to die…"

"It doesn't have to concern you, Sakura, we all must die even if it is at the hands of my little brother. He always dreamed of killing me, feeling my warm blood on his face," his lips curled up into a bloody smile. "And if I have to die right here on top of Kakashi then so be it. I'm going to take him with me…"

"Itachi!" Sakura cried out hugging him tightly. "I don't care what Sasuke's dreams are, I'm not going to let you die because I was too weak to stop it all from happening. How bad is it?"

She ran her fingers under his shirt feeling the indentation of the broken ribs hearing him wince in pain. They were worse than she thought they were, he might not survive this if she didn't help him now. Lifting his shirt up she saw the dark bruises where the hit took place, even after all of this time there was no sign of it even starting to disappear. He was in too much pain for her to even fathom how his body felt currently.

"Itachi, oh my God!" Sakura whimpered, her green eyes watering. "How can you breathe with all of these bruises?"

"With great pain," he coughed as she released him from her embrace. His breathing was rough as through half opened eyes looking at her hands signs. _Mystical palms_ and judging by the look in her eyes it was the only jutsu that she could comprehend right now. He memorized the flow fully understanding how to formulate it even more than the times where he had caught glimpses. Thank God the through his half opened eyes she couldn't see the red of his sharingan.

It felt so soothing having the chakra haze run over his body healing him slowly. She was obedient, a trait that he never thought he would see in a student of Kakashi's, she was still untouched by the poison of the thief. She was pure, the look on her face showing concern for him as she wasted more and more of her chakra on him. How was he ever going to repay her? He knew: he'd let her live.

"You didn't have to do that," he breathed looking into her eyes watching her hands draw away from him taking a deep breath, he could still feel the strain on his lungs from his ribs. The gurgling of his blood deep in his lungs was dying and the coughing starting to become a little less painful.

"I know… but I'm not going to let Sasuke have the guilt that he wants to have," Sakura breathed. "He might want you to die at his hands, but there is no way that he's going to be able to sleep at night knowing that he killed everyone that matters to him. I know that you still matter to him deep in his heart. He doesn't want you to die, Itachi."

He stood up going toward the door. "Thank you, Sakura; you're different from Kakashi. You're a pure girl and I think that you'll be a great ninja one day. Your medical ninjutsu is amazing."

She held her hand out wanting him to take it and he complied by pressing his lips to the soft flesh. His lips were warm up against her hand his grip was compassionate as his eyes looked into her green ones. Right after his lips left her flesh he walked to the door looking back at her.

"Our little secret," he whispered with a dark smile walking back into the darkness.

She looked at the door. _Our little secret. _

-----

He looked deeply into the bowl of ramen as he looked at his face, he was getting deeper into the darkness and there was no turning back now. Through the corner of his eye he could see Naruto smiling as he finished another bowl of ramen. He was so innocent, so sweet so full of life. It was a shame, a waste of all of the moments that he had with Naruto that he had to die. Every feeling that he was destined to have with his best friend was about to be cut short. He had to kill him for the power that he still craved.

"You seem quiet," Naruto answered looking over at him. "You're not the type of guy who stays quiet around me. You're usually insulting me or challenging me to some eating contest and then we both go together to puke, bickering after. But you… it's like you're not even awake."

Sasuke stirred through his ramen with a chopstick and then looked over at Naruto. "It's been a while since I could live a normal life. I've been in the hospital, sleeping at home. It's been a really long month, Naruto, a month that I don't want to repeat."

"It must have hurt you to know that our ninja career's over for a while. They can't find anyone to replace Kakashi-sensei so until then we can't go on any missions. The last thing that we were supposed to do is go off to find Itachi, after what he did to you; we can't risk having anything else like that happen."

Sasuke took a deep breath as he looked down into the bowl. "No matter how much of this stuff I eat it's never going to make all of my pain go away. I used to think that all of my pain couldn't grow any larger. Well, I was wrong, Naruto."

Blue eyes closed. "Sasuke… I should take you home; you can sleep at my place."

"I don't know if I should," Sasuke breathed. "I don't think that I should impose," he pulled out his wallet. "I'll pay for this."

"Sasuke, you don't have to," Naruto breathed watching Sasuke leave the money on the counter. "Thanks…"

"Anytime," the Uchiha answered as he stood up. "Are you sure that you want me to go home with you? I mean aren't you scared that I'm going to hurt myself over there? And you'll have to watch?"

"I'm more concerned if you go home alone," the blond answered hearing Sasuke cough. "You look so cold," his breath was condensing as he shivered lightly looking into Sasuke's black eyes. "I should get you inside before you die of hypothermia."

He wrapped his arm around him as they started to walk away into the darkness. The way that Naruto's arm felt around his waist made him smile slightly. Did Shisui ever do this to Itachi when they walked home after the long nights of avoiding his father? If Shisui showed that kind of warmth then why would Itachi ever want to kill him? Naruto's eyes looked over at him with so much trust. Could he not sense that there was something wrong? Sasuke knew that the hate was radiating off of him consuming Naruto into the darkness of his own shadowy heart.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered as they walked down the same path that Naruto did that night. "Do you still hear them in your sleep? The screams?"

"What?" Naruto asked as if trying to block Sasuke out.

"The screams that you told me you heard that night, my screams. Do you hear them while you try to sleep at night?" Sasuke's voice was a low whisper barely audible above the wind. "I know that it must have been horrible, walking from the ramen bar to your own home not sure what's going on down there, but you have to know that being down there was worse, actually having to feel someone take control of you and not being able to stop it…"

Sasuke closed his eyes tighter the moans that once represented his pain were now the moans that made him feel absolute pleasure. His brother's name passing his lips in a passionate scream made his whole body shudder. The memories of earlier that one day when he wanted to be held in his brother's arms forever never wanting his warm breathe to leave his lips. Times had changed in only a few short weeks. Hate became love.

"Well here it is," Naruto announced. Sasuke must have spaced out while they moved up the stairs to get to his best friend's home. This was where Naruto was going to fall, where it was all going to end. He watched the blond fumble with the key his eyes fixated on the door.

"Yeah," Sasuke breathed as the door opened. The place was a sty, completely out of order but as he looked around he knew that was the least of his problems. Naruto Uzumaki was going to die right here, later on this night. It was the only way that Itachi could finally have peece, the only way that Sasuke could let his brother go.

"I'll be in the bedroom," Naruto smiled. "You can sleep on the floor if you want."

Sasuke nodded. "I'll be right there soon enough."

Watching his friend disappear into the darkness he ran to the waste basket purging his body from the ramen that he had eaten earlier. Thoughts of pupils fixed and dilated in blue eyes as he focused on every retch, tears streaming down his silken cheeks. Heart racing, his body shaking, he continued to vomit more and more holding back the sobs. How could a person kill their best friend? Naruto was in his bedroom probably trying to go to sleep, little did he know he was getting closer to the end, to his imminent death. If Naruto wasn't, Itachi was.

"I have to do this," he whispered wiping his mouth looking up at the ceiling. "Itachi… this is for you."

He made a promise to Itachi, he was going to kill the fox to make his organization pay. The promises that he had made with Naruto were disappearing, but he prayed to God that Naruto wasn't going to let Sasuke kill him that easily. There had to be some hope. More tears streamed down his cheeks. He had to let the one that he loved die or let his best friend be slaughtered by his own hand.

"I'm a murderer," he whispered opening his eyes looking at the doorway to Naruto's room, staring with what he had hated the most and what Itachi had left: swollen obsidian eyes.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know, I know, the ItaSaku scene was bad, but it was necessary, now Itachi's going to learn a new technique that gains more importance through the story. As for Sasuke, I know that he's being a little overdramatic, but it's just teenage angst. So what do you think? Good? Bad? I should stop while I'm ahead? Honesty is always good. 

Next chapter somethnig shocking happens and secrets of the sharingan are revealed to Sasuke that he never wanted to know.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Naruto, it's very sad.

**Warnings:** This chapter contains coarse language, subjects containing death and homicide, blood, yaoi incest, skewed thoughts on rape, traces of sexual content, OOC, and he canon is still getting pummeled to a bloody pulp. This is also a long chapter (I really need to stop saying that, everyone knows these chapters are long.) There might also be some mistakes in this chapter that I didn't pick up. I HAVE NOW PUT THE LEMON UP DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, IT'S AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu and some SasuNaru

* * *

He loomed over his bed looking down at him; he looked peaceful as he was deep in sleep, his breathing gentle and calm. His blond locks were strewn messily across the pillow, his body rolled up in a loose ball. The kunai in Sasuke's hand was shaking as he tried to hold back all of the urges to take his own life instead. 

"You thought that you could just leave me that night, Naruto?" he asked in a low whisper. "I'm not the kind of person who's going to condone that. You call yourself my best friend and you are, but…" he clutched onto the kunai tighter. "I have to… kill you."

Sitting on the bed he looked down at him with swollen scarlet eyes, his heart racing in his chest. He didn't see Naruto anymore, he saw the power his body craved, he saw that damn fox that Itachi had risked his life to get the whereabouts of. Detaching from who it was, he placed to the knife to the side moving his hands to run along Naruto's neck feeling the light pulse.

His fingers danced across the flesh, both hands grasping Naruto's neck tightly pushing him farther into the mattress. Tears streamed harder down his face as he looked down at his friend hearing him gag. Itachi was dying because of Naruto, Kakashi was in a coma because of Naruto, Sasuke wasn't going to screw up now. He let out a loud sob as he squeezed harder hearing him start to choke, his body moving as if he were trying to awaken. Through tears he could see the blue eyes looking up at him begging desperately.

"Sasuke? What are you…?"

Sasuke tightened his grip, sobbing loudly hearing Naruto start to struggle to breathe hands shaking as he moved to grab at the Uchiha's wrists trying to push them off. Fingernails dug into Sasuke's wrists blood spilling onto Naruto's face. A sickness went through Sasuke's body as Naruto suffered. Was this what Itachi felt while killing Shisui?

Naruto swallowed hard gagging loudly his eyes watering lightly as his body shook. "W-why? Why are you doing this?"

"There's something you don't understand, something that has changed inside of me. I'm not the same person that I was that night," he moved closer to Naruto's body his grip on his neck tightening. "In order to obtain power, I have to kill you. You knew this all along, you've heard of _mangekyou_ _sharingan_, the sharingan in its highest form. My brother obtained that power it and he killed his best friend to do so."

He could feel Naruto's life start to slip away as his face grew pale, his body stopped it's shaking. His eyes were becoming glassy as he tried to fight it, he was starting to lose focus. Every breath felt painful, his chest struggling to rise and fall with every breath. With every second that passed, Naruto was falling deeper into death, the chasm of darkness that Sasuke had seen twice. He was dying.

He closed his eyes tightly as to not see those blue irises fade into a dim grey, his pupils starting to expand his life starting to flee from his body his throat struggling to cough. Sasuke let out a loud sob as he heard Naruto try to make out words, more empty pleas for this nightmare to end.

"S-Sasuke… I-I…" he swallows hard up against Sasuke's tight grip. "Y-you… you promised… m-made me…"

Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to block him out.

"M-made m-me… p-p-promise… t-that I wouldn't… let you hurt me… n-no matter… what…"

"Naruto," Sasuke hissed wrapping his hands around tighter. "Shut up."

"Open your eyes, Sasuke," Naruto was struggling to breathe, his voice tight. "I… I… I thought that you were different than this. You're letting Itachi push you around… that's not the Sasuke Uchiha that I know. You… you… you were strong… and I was jealous of you…"

Onyx eyes expanded as he tried to move his hands from Naruto's neck, something deep inside of his body telling him this is what he wanted to do. _Move! Damn it! Move! Move! _

"I-I told you… promised you… that I would help you obtain your dream… Sasuke… I-I…" he struggled to cough again. "I-I know… y-you… y-y-you will…" his hand moved from Sasuke's wrist struggling to touch his face, "uphold your promise… p-promise… p-promise me… that y-you'll s-survive… l-live… d-don't die… p-promise…"

Naruto's pupils took over his eyes, dilating to take over his blue irises his body going limp on the bed, blood running from his nostrils. His hand was loosening its grip on Sasuke's wrist as he tried to pull way from his best friend's neck. Naruto was leaving this world slowly; Sasuke could see the cursed realm of darkness in his eyes, glints of purple light deep in those cold dead eyes.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke asked pulling his hands away seeing the blood rolling down Naruto's lips. "Naruto?" he asked again placing hand on his friend's cheek watching his eyes cloud more his life leaving his body. "Naruto!" he moved to grasp his body holding it tightly shaking his body violently in vain, his body was limp. "Naruto!"

He buried his face into Naruto's chest sobbing violently. What had he done? His stomach was burning, he felt sick. His eyes swirled through a haze of utter hate. The knife that was lying next to the pillows looked so appetizing. He could take off some of the pain not caring about Naruto anymore.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke breathed stroking Naruto's face gently looking into his dead eyes tears falling onto him. "I didn't… I shouldn't have killed you. Please, Naruto, don't go, don't leave me alone now. I was wrong… I was wrong to use you, abuse you. Now when I look at you all I see is another that I failed. Itachi… was this how you felt while looking at what you did to Shisui? Did you feel like your life was worthless? Did you feel like everything that you ever cared about was gone? Did you feel…?" he ran a hand through Naruto's blond hair. "I never wanted you to do this to you. I thought… I wanted to let go… but now… you're on the other side. Come back… come back to me."

Sasuke looked at the knife grasping the handle. "You know, Naruto, the look on your face right now, it hurts me. I know that I can get a little stubborn sometimes, a little hard to handle. But this, I…" he felt a pain in the back of his head. "No… not now… I don't want it! I don't want power!" he fought the thoughts of finally getting the power that he always wanted. "I don't want any of it! I just want you back."

Laying the blond boy on the bed, Sasuke looked down into his eyes. _You're heart is barely beating… I let go before you could shut your whole body down. _He felt the burning in his stomach return to him moving slowly up his throat. Tasting the traces of vomit he purged his stomach again this time onto Naruto's floor not caring about the stains that it was going to leave.

Failure, he had failed his brother. Itachi wanted him to kill the fox, but now here he was begging to bring his best friend back to him. Was it all in vain? Kakashi's sacrifice was because of Itachi's plan; he was now in a hospital dying. Sasuke lost his dignity because of the whole scheme of events, if he had killed the fox earlier then Itachi wouldn't had shown up that night. But most importantly, Itachi was dying because of this plan. He had to go through with it and let the last pulsations of Naruto's heart reverberate through his ears, sit back and watch him die. It was that easy.

It was easy, he could sit here and watch Naruto die, the pain of the beginning of the manifestation of the mangekyou sharingan burning through his brain, but the pain was too great, Itachi never said this happened. He could feel tears running from his eyes, the pain burning behind his eyes. This was the key to the kekkei genkai, this was the ultimate power of the sharingan, the price was too great.

Sasuke moved to Naruto's body, the pain in his eyes making obvious that Naruto was leaving him. His pulse was still beating was drifting away as every second went by. His breath was all that had been robbed of him; the dark bruises of strangulation were wrapped around his neck. If he was lucky it was just the shock that caused his breath to stop. If only he considered himself a lucky person.

_"And you got out with your life, there are people your age that go through the same that you do and they aren't lucky enough to come out alive. They die right there and it's Hell. And not only are you alive, but no one has turned their back on you." _

Kakashi had always called him a lucky person, maybe it was the truth. Luck had been on side the whole time ever since the night where Itachi attacked him. He was lucky that Itachi didn't unleash his full violent potential. He was lucky that Kakashi was only in a coma and not gone forever. Maybe luck would help bring Naruto back.

He pushed up against Naruto's chest tears still running down his cheeks. _I swear that I won't let anyone hurt you. _The words still ran through his head, whether they were Itachi's or Naruto's he didn't know.

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed as he moved to his lips. "Breathe!" he pressed his lips up against his two breaths administered into his body, his chest rising from the air supply. "That means your airways are clear."

He continued to attempt to revive him. "Naruto!" the screams filled the room as he continued to push into him. "You said that you wouldn't let anything happen to me. You're a horrible best friend, Naruto! You're horrible! I really thought you gave a damn," he breathed into him backing away panting, sweat rolling down his body. "If you were jealous of my strength then why are you giving up? You were always a persistent bastard and a pain in my ass, and now you're giving up," he closed his eyes tightly. "I won't let you." every word was accented with a thrust to his chest. "Naruto!"

"You won't die," he breathed as he took the kunai cutting the palm of Naruto's hand watching him bleed, his eyes hurting as he stared at him. "Keep bleeding…"

The pain in his head was becoming stronger he could already feel the power. He didn't want it. He didn't want to be like his brother. The pain that he went through to get powerful, he killed his best friend and as he did he had to feel this horrible pain, none of it was worth the glory of power. How did he allow his body to go through this much pain? Why didn't he pull Shisui back out when he had the chance?

_"You have no idea what ninjas do to one another; you've never been in that environment, you don't know the pain in a ninja's life. You don't know the torture. This is nothing compared to that." _

Itachi's life was filled with all of the mistakes that he didn't want for Sasuke, so maybe he did him a favor that night, as sick as that sounded. He was happy that it was his brother knowing that he had no real intention of killing him or vitally crippling him. Itachi was probably the same way with Shisui, too sweet to the last moment. He probably wasn't this cruel; Itachi wasn't as cold as he thought.

Knowing that there was no way that Naruto was going to come back; he put one last breath into his lungs, the taste of blood filling his mouth again. He had failed this time; he was just like his brother. Everything was gone, only the burning throughout his whole body warm tears still rolling down his cheeks.

"It hurts…" he sobbed wiping one of his tears looking at his finger, on the tip there was a stain, a blood stain. "I'm bleeding," he didn't know what happened when you sought the power of the kekkei genkai, there's nothing but more pain.

Sasuke turned around wiping away the bloody happen to him, a headache, vomiting spells, bloody tears, why would he do it?

"Damn!" Sasuke sobbed the blood tears landing on Naruto's face. "Damn it! Naruto, wake up!" his vision was swirling as he looked down at him. "Wake up! It hurts! It hurts!" he fell on top of his body more bloody tears rolling down his cheeks panting heavily as he tried his hardest not to vomit again fearing that too had transformed into blood. _I finally understand, Itachi, Shisui was the lucky one in this plan; he did have the easy way out, while you… were dying right by that river with the pain of your ultimate power. Why would you do that to yourself? This hurts! Did you hate yourself? _

He moved from Naruto and vomited again this time screaming out in pain as he did so. Images of his brother by the river came into play, how the next few days he was different, his body moved painfully and he would stare off into space for hours. Now he was feeling the same way. As the remainder of his stomach contents hit the ground he closed his eyes tightly hearing the coughs that still sounded through his head. His brother was dying at his hands; the least he could do was allow him to die with dignity.

"S-Sasuke?" he heard call out behind him.

"N-Naruto?" he looked over to see the coughing form of his best friend. "Is that…?" he closed his eyes feeling the pain in his head start to die down. _I guess the pain is there until your best friend dies or lives, while the soul is in between worlds, I'm the one controlling the balance. Who would have known that I had that control? I know the secrets to the clan, our true power, sacrifice the ones that we love to obtain great power, power in exchange for weakness. Well, I've grown accustomed to my weakness. I'm going to hurt myself to lose it. _

He moved to wrap his arms around his friend's body. "It's okay; you're going to be alright, Naruto…"

Naruto's eyes started to close as he coughed. "I saw the other side for a second, Sasuke… when you were there, what did you see?"

Black eyes continued to well up with blood. "I saw nothing, darkness that was engulfing me but then I went into the white light and I was here and the first thing that I saw was Sakura's face. She was all that I could think about, her and you," he stroked Naruto's face. "I thought that I… killed you…"

"You won't kill me that easily," Naruto breathed heavily. "I'm not going to die as easily as you want me to, Sasuke. Regardless of how much you want to destroy your brother, I won't die."

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "He's been on my mind a lot lately."

"Really?" Naruto asked. "Why?"

"He was the reason that I was killing you, a ninja must be able to sacrifice from his own life to make everything stay in order. I thought that if I… killed you everything in Konoha would go back to normal. The whole village is in uproar ever since he came back. If I could kill you and get the power that I desire, maybe I could stop him," Sasuke looked over at him. _You're in the way of Itachi's dreams, just like Kakashi. _

Naruto looked over at him. "Power?"

"My brother killed his best friend to get the power he desired, he is the only person that I know of who unlocked the mangekyou sharingan. He's augments all genjutsu techniques being able to harness Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, the powers of the Sun Goddess and Moon God. They're powerful techniques, Naruto, ninjutsu and genjutsu at the highest level."

"But to kill his best friend for power…? Is that really why you did it, Sasuke? Power?" Naruto coughed again looking up at him feeling warmth dripping from Sasuke's face to touch his own. "Oh my God, Sasuke, you're bleeding."

"It's nothing," he breathed wiping his eyes. "I had a headache…"

"It's more of that sharingan business isn't it? The… whatever it's called…"

"Mangekyou," Sasuke answered continuing to wipe his eyes.

"_Mangekyou_, I think that you should think about living your own life. Itachi is only going to destroy you if you let him do this to you. Why are you doing this all for a person that you hate?" Naruto asked.

"There's something going on inside of me, Naruto, something that will never be the same," Sasuke took a deep breath looking away. "Something that he's done to me, inside my mind. These days I only see his face, I can't shake the feelings he ran through my body."

Naruto weakly shook his head closing his eyes. "He may have taken your body, but that doesn't mean that you can just throw your life away. He may have had sex with you, but that isn't a good reason to give up. Why, Sasuke?"

"I can never be the same," Sasuke repeated.

"Sasuke," Naruto begged. "Tell me what's going on, I'm your best friend, I can keep a secret."

Sasuke's eyes looked down at him as he wiped more blood from his cheeks. "I think that I might have enjoyed it, Naruto."

"What?" Naruto asked sitting up. "You mean you enjoyed him raping you?"

The other boy nodded. "As he was on top of me, kissing me fiercely, holding me far too tight, I couldn't help but feel attracted to him. My body wanted to give into him, there was a time during the whole thing where I was kissing him back, moaning loudly…"

"Sasuke, he was _raping_ you, you can't say that you were enjoying it," Naruto scolded.

"Naruto, I know that it sounds crazy and I know that you want more explanation, but there's something going on in my body, Itachi's done something to me," he looked over at Naruto. "Have you ever had a person who whenever they're around they make you feel as though nothing in the world can hurt you?"

Naruto shook his head, his body trembling as he struggled to catch his breath, a raspy sound passing his lips.

"Itachi was that person for me; he always made sure that I was safe and happy. He wanted me to avoid the life that he led; he didn't want that for me. He didn't want to watch me become a monster. The pressure was enough to make anyone break. He's back to make sure that I don't get the power I desire, but you probably don't understand the pain that I'm going through knowing that I have to work harder for the power," Sasuke's eyes closed tightly as he hugged Naruto tighter, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I was too weak to kill you… I was… too weak."

He thought about what Itachi wanted him to do. How hard was it to kill a twelve-year-old? He didn't ask him to do too much; all he wanted was to hold up his end of the bargain, but something had changed; Sasuke now saw how much pain Itachi had felt the day when Shisui died. The blood that stained Naruto's cheeks proved that there were some things in this world that he was never going to get around. The Uchiha Clan was a gateway to Hell, a door between the worlds deciding the fate of their friend's life with the manifestation of power.

Holding on tighter to Naruto, Sasuke remembered everything that his brother had told him about. The art of ninja, potential, self sacrifice, they all ran through his head as he thought of the blood running down Itachi's lips. He had to fight harder to make sure that no one was going to get Naruto, if they couldn't kill him they'd have to make sure that the organization that Itachi detested couldn't get at him.

_I failed you, Itachi. I failed you, my brother. I failed you, don't kill me. _

-----

_"Look at what it did for Kakashi, he's in a Goddamn coma and it's all the guards' fault. His brain is gone, his heartbeat is leaving, he's struggling for breath every second that goes by. Asuma, look what that bastard did to him. Because he knew he was never going to be able to kill an Uchiha he was put into this state. That son of a bitch, look what he did to him." _

Taking a deep painful breath Asuma looked into the river standing only a few feet from where the crime had happened. The deep marks where the sais were implanted were still in the ground, the mental images not being filled by the rain.

_I made the right choice… I was right to let him go and not start a confrontation. I know that I was right to stop the madness before I got someone else hurt. Kakashi was enough, there didn't need to be anymore casualties, _he clutched his rib cage coughing violently, blood falling from his lips. "K-Kakashi…"

_"Then I'm going to have to make you stay, even if I have to break you arms and legs. I'm sorry, Asuma." _

"Damn it," he breathed looking down into the water. The scene was windy, chilling just like that night when Sasuke was sitting down here waiting for his team. This was the spot where Sasuke lost his mind to his brother, the scene of the rape. What was going through his mind as he was pinned to the ground, his brother free to do what he pleased with his body? The way that Sasuke looked on the day when he was standing here with Kakashi looking down at Sakura's sobbing form holding tightly, Naruto's eyes looking like to bottomless pools of cold blue. Kakashi was the one who was holding them together; he was the one who was going to make everything right again.

Sasuke looked different after that day, only a few days after he went into cardiac arrest again. Sasuke was taking it harder than he should. It wasn't his fault that his brother did that to Kakashi; he had no control over the situation, but now that Kakashi was gone, everything was a nightmare because of it.

Gai had called the whole situation his now, saying that he was the only one who knew what he was doing. That was bullshit. Gai was only powered by hate for not being able to be there for Kakashi. Asuma was there, his hate should be stronger. He was so close to stopping him, he tried to pull him back, but it was to no avail. Asuma lost everything that mattered to him, his name was tattered and his days were numbered.

"What are you doing down here?" a voice asked.

Asuma looked over. "Shikamaru?" he was surprised to see his student out this late. "You shouldn't be out here, you'll freeze to death."

"Same goes for you," the genin retorted.

The jounin laughed. "I'm investigating."

"_Investigating_, eh?" Shikamaru asked. "You mean that rape? It must be hard on you, having to deal with a situation of this caliber. A student getting raped and then left to die, Kakashi must have been in some real pain."

Asuma closed his eyes not looking at Shikamaru; he didn't have the heart to. Thoughts took over his mind as he looked at the young boy. _"Have you ever wondered what it's like to lose a student? What if this was Shikamaru, what would you do to save the boy's life? Would you do what you're doing now or would you issue an order?" _Asuma closed his eyes tighter. _I don't know what I'd do, Gai, if it were Shikamaru… I would have done what Kakashi did, I would seek revenge, but Kakashi didn't want me involved. I can't protect these children; I couldn't even stay at my post. _

"Asuma?" Shikamaru asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," the jounin answered, looking at the ground remembering Sasuke's cold lifeless skin. The pain in his ribs returned, he coughed lightly thinking about the screams. What if it _was_ Shikamaru who was being held down and killed? Would he be this detached from the situation? Was it because it was Sasuke that he didn't care? Why did he just sit back and watch Sasuke go through pain.

"Asuma?" Shikamaru started with a sigh. "Something's wrong…"

"What makes you think that?" Asuma asked.

The young boy pointed at his sensei's lips. "You're not smoking, there's something wrong…"

"My ribs are broken," Asuma answered looking into the water.

Shikamaru shook his head. "That's not it; you're staring off into the distance. What happened to you? You were never like this before, you always looked so positive, that's why I respected you, but now, all you do is mope around. Are you that guilty?"

"I failed," Asuma answered. "Shikamaru, I failed the village."

"You did the right thing," the genin argued.

"I let Itachi go, I should have stopped him right there, but as usual, I was the weak one out of the whole group. I was the one who let Itachi go after what he did to Kakashi. He put him in that coma and all I could do was watch his attacker jump through a window. Why was I so weak?"

"Sensei…" Shikamaru breathed. "It wasn't…"

"After all of the training, all of the principles drilled into my head, I still let him get the better of me. I was scared, Shikamaru, I was scared that he was going to destroy my life. He had taken everything from Kakashi, I thought that he'd come after you, Ino, or Chouji. I didn't want you to get involved in this. Itachi's ruthless, making the greatest ninja fall to the ground. He's an opponent that I hope you will never have to face," Asuma coughed, blood falling past his lips, his body shaking slightly.

"Asuma, you shouldn't be out here," Shikamaru soothed. "You're hurt…"

Asuma looked into the river. "Shikamaru," he looked up at the boy seeing the blood reflected in his eyes. "Don't you ever let someone walk all over you. Don't let anyone tell you that you're going to lose. If you give up, then what's the point in being there? Shikamaru, I know that it shames you to know that your sensei's weak, but what I did was a mistake that's haunting me forever. Itachi took my dignity, but I don't want you to go after him. Promise me that you won't go after him; promise me that you won't give up on living."

Shikamaru looked into his sensei's eyes. "You make it sound like you're going to die. Don't look at it like that…"

"I'm going after him," Asuma said strongly.

"Why? What makes you think that you'll stand a chance against him?" Shikamaru asked. "I need a sensei, I need you, Asuma. If you leave now, then I have nothing left. We need you; don't leave us like what Kakashi did to his team. Don't make us go through that. I'm not Sasuke, and Chouji and Ino sure as hell not Naruto and Sakura. We aren't going to sit by your bed and wait to see if you're still breathing. I don't want that. I saw the tears in their eyes, I don't want that either."

Asuma looked toward the river. "A boy was raped here, one who was your age. He might be able to walk now, communicate with his friends, but he's different. Everyone knows what happened, he lost his virginity to his brother in a way nobody should lose their virginity," he took a deep breath. "He feels touched and worthless, but when a paper is ripped to shreds it can never be whole again, but with a little effort it can become something new, maybe even more perfect than before."

Shikamaru looked away. "Don't tell me all of this…"

"Why not," Asuma smirked.

"Because I wasn't raped, _dumbass_," Shikamaru breathed trying to fight the tears feeling his sensei's hand cup his face. "Asuma?"

"Don't hold your tears back around me; you can let your feelings out. You don't have to be strong, Shikamaru. Cleanse your soul of all of the troubles that you've been holding back," the jounin begged. "There are things in this world that need to have tears shed; you can't allow the pain to take over you."

"Asuma…" Shikamaru whispered. "Itachi…"

"Don't worry about what he did."

"He's done all of this to the village, look at you! You've lost a dignity, I didn't want to see you like this, but then again I did come here for you. I know what the pain that you've been through, Ino and Chouji wanted to come too, but they were too scared to see you like this. We're worried about you, Asuma… me most of all. Asuma-sensei, I…" a tear fell down Shikamaru's cheek as he looked over at Asuma and then at the river. "I… I don't want you to risk yourself to get your dignity back. You're a better man than Gai and you have more sense than Kakashi. I don't want to lose you like this, don't go after him."

"He said no one was going to get hurt, if we don't attack him, then it's all going to be alright," he looked over at the young boy. "You know, I think it's about time you go home, your parents are going to kill me," he stood up helping the crying boy.

Shikamaru shook his head more tears rolling down his cheeks. "Come back… come back safe for me, Asuma. Promise me."

The jounin sighed. "I can't."

"Then just tell me that it's going to be alright. Make me feel comfortable knowing that you're not going to throw your life away for the well being of the country." Shikamaru begged still crying. "Asuma…"

The jounin looked over at his student. "You're going to make it; you're going to go on with Ino and Chouji. Even if I do get hurt, I want you to stay strong," he smiled. "And if the journey ever gets too tough," he handed him a box of cigarettes. "Here's something to help you pick up the pieces."

"I hate cigarettes," Shikamaru scoffed.

"I know you do," Asuma smiled.

The genin sighed. "I can't smoke these…"

"They're yours now, they're a gift…"

"No," Shikamaru stated looking. "Even if I _did_ want to smoke them, I wouldn't be able to. I don't have a lighter. You out of all people should know that you can't smoke without a lighter."

Asuma smirked. "You're a bright one, Shikamaru," he handed him his lighter. "There, now you can smoke them. Just don't tell your parents that I'm giving their child cigarettes, they wouldn't let me train you if they knew."

Shikamaru smiled a little as they continued to walk away from the river. "You're a good man, Asuma. You made me the person that I am today. Do me a favor though…"

"Yeah?"

Shikamaru smiled broader. "If you have to… kick his ass!"

Asuma looked back at the river. _He raped a twelve-year-old. I will not allow Sasuke's pain be in vain. I'm going to beat you to a bloody pulp, but not give you the pleasure of dying. You can live a life of pain. You're mine, Itachi. Mine! _

-----

Sasuke opened his eyes, hearing gentle breathing up against his neck. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't go to sleep. It was difficult time, the thoughts of dead blue eyes going through his mind, the bloodstains covering over him as well as Naruto. Naruto, he was holding him so tightly knowing that he couldn't sleep either hearing a few pained noises emerging from him.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, shaking his friend's body gently. "Are you alright?"

Naruto looked up at his friend. "I'm fine."

There was something in his eyes that showed that he was lying, the dark circles and the swollen areas surrounding them, he'd been crying. Sasuke hadn't even noticed. Did Naruto try to go to sleep and he was met with the nightmares again? The look in his eyes weren't against that theory, nor was the way that he was hanging onto him.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked with concern.

The blond boy looked up and handed Sasuke a bloody kunai. "You wanted to kill me, didn't you, Sasuke?"

He watched the blood drip from the knife. "Naruto?" he grabbed Naruto's left hand watching the blood drip. "Why? Why did you let me do this to you? You promised that you wouldn't let me hurt you."

"I'm an abomination," Naruto breathed watching Sasuke look at the wound. "Don't… don't try to help me…"

Sasuke shook his head, sitting up looking at the wound. "You're not an abomination. You're a human damn it! You're covered in blood you clumsy idiot…"

"I know what you want," Naruto breathed looking away. "It's the mangekyou thing isn't it? The power that runs in your cursed blood? In order to obtain that you have to kill me, but if you don't want that, then why did you strangle me? Tell me something, Sasuke, what did your brother do to you in that room?"

"He talked…"

"That's bullshit!" Naruto cursed as he watched Sasuke look deeper into the wound. "You want to know something, you selfish prick. I don't know what he did to you, but you said that you weren't going to lose your mind in all of this madness. Tell me what really happened…"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "He kissed me…" his voice was weak.

"Where?" Naruto asked.

"On the lips," the Uchiha's voice was still quiet.

The blond boy's blue eyes wandered around the room. "Was it an _evil_ kiss? You know, like he was going to hurt you again?" he felt Sasuke wipe the blood with his shirt. "Sasuke…" he winced feeling his fingers touch the scarlet liquid.

"It wasn't an _evil _kiss," Sasuke answered.

"What was it like?" Naruto asked looking into Sasuke's eyes. "I'm sorry to pry, but… I've never really ever kissed a person. Well, we did… but that was an accident. I mean truly having someone kiss me. You've kissed people, you even kissed Sakura."

Sasuke smiled. "You can count our kiss if you want."

"That's not what I'm getting at," Naruto breathed. "I never kissed someone with… _tongue_. What does it feel like? I can't even begin to imagine the feeling of someone else's tongue in my mouth. I know it must have been hard having your brother do that to you, but could you just tell me? Think of Sakura."

"Curious?" Sasuke raised a playful eyebrow as he continued to rub the cut. "I like that quality in you. You're always trying to gain more information. I'll tell you a little… it makes your whole body rush through a world where nothing can touch you. I felt untouchable by everything, nothing fazes you in those few moments," he closed his eyes. "It's magical…"

"Sounds electrifying," Naruto breathed. "Thanks for the info, maybe one day I can get to feel what you're talking about."

"You're interested?" Sasuke asked playfully.

Naruto nodded as he swallowed hard. "I'm the odd man out the team; it makes me kind of sad. I've been feeling really down lately, a state of complete hopelessness and even though I know nothing can get worse, it always does. Nothing good can come of this sensation I've been feeling," he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "I'm losing you…"

Sasuke shook his head. "You'll never lose me."

"Yes I will," Naruto breathed looking at the blood. "I thought that you hated me, but yet you saved me when I was dying. You strangled me and yet… you…" he looked at the blood all over Sasuke's body. "You saved me…"

"Of course," Sasuke breathed, stroking his face lightly. "Naruto… I was…" he swallowed hard, "supposed to kill you…"

"But you didn't," Naruto corrected.

"I was going to," he touched Naruto's neck again feeling the young boy shudder. "These bruises are going to look suspicious. I didn't mean to make it so obvious, Naruto, I don't know what came over me…"

"It's okay…" Naruto breathed as he looked into onyx eyes. "I forgive you…"

Sasuke moved closer to Naruto looking right into his eyes. "My brother said that his organization had an interest in you and out of stupidity I thought that the only way to save you from that dark fate was to kill you and obtain the power that I needed. But you…" he placed a hand up against the blond's chest, "I couldn't kill you, you're just too damn addicting."

"Well, maybe if you stopped being a drama queen," Naruto laughed. "You cut me to see if I was still alive, if the blood stopped you would know to give up. A little half baked, but you're plans usually are."

Sasuke looked deeper into blue eyes. "I can never kill you…"

"I never asked you to," Naruto smiled watching Sasuke stand up walking toward the door, his smile fading. "Where are you going?"

"Home," Sasuke answered as he looked back.

"No! I'm not going to let you go again, not after what happened that night!" Naruto yelped. "Please, Sasuke! I told you I forgive you, so get back into this bed. You can go in the morning. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"You know nothing's going to happen," Sasuke smiled looking back at him. "Make sure to keep that hand bandaged, and don't let it bleed too much. The last thing I want is another member of our squad to be in the hospital."

Naruto looked out the window. "It's dark and probably cold outside, are you sure you'll be alright out there?"

"I'm positive," he looked back at him. "I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow, Naruto, I promise."

The blond curled up in his bed his voice almost quiet. "I know you will…"

Sasuke walked out the door. _I couldn't do it, for the life of me, I couldn't kill him. My vision's still blurred from the bloody tears and my head hurts, damn it, I didn't know that the true power was that bad. Most importantly, Itachi's going to be pissed at me for not being able to carry out his mission. In his condition do I really want to upset him? _He stopped dead in his tracks. _I'm not going to lose him, I'd much rather fuck this whole village than watch him leave me again. I would betray my country for my blood. That's my new nindou, my new ninja way… _

-----

The house was empty, the cold night air adding to the eeriness. Itachi should have been there he had no reason to live. The moon was still high in the sky; the time was only one AM. Did something happen to him while he was "taking out the more powerful ninja"? Who was he talking about? The Hokage? The feeling of guilt sat in his stomach as he looked throughout the darkness.

"Itachi…" he breathed as he gazed into the courtyard, there was no way that he could have been killed, not without Sasuke knowing. How could he allow this to happen? The last few kisses that Itachi had given him ran through his mind. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't shake his face from his mind. Where was he?

Blood dripped from his clothes onto the ground as he looked up to the sky, tears still rolling down his bloody cheek. "Itachi…"

As he lost all hope he vomited more onto the floor sobbing violently feeling guilt run through his body. He had failed; he was a failure to Itachi's cause and needed to be disposed of immediately. The words that Naruto had said to him still cut through his chest like a hot knife.

_"Open your eyes, Sasuke. I… I… I thought that you were different than this. You're letting Itachi push you around… that's not the Sasuke Uchiha that I know. You… you… you were strong… and I was jealous of you…" _

"Naruto…" he breathed. "If only you knew why I did this for Itachi… I love him… more than anything…"

_"I-I told you… promised you… that I would help you obtain your dream… Sasuke… I-I… I-I know… y-you… y-y-you will… uphold your promise… p-promise… p-promise me… that y-you'll s-survive… l-live… d-don't die… p-promise…" _

He could still hear Naruto, struggling on the words as his blue eyes looked up at him. He was dead for a split second; he could feel the cursed power take over his body. He touched the blood on his body. "Naruto… I… I'm sorry that it had to turn out like this… but you and I are never going to be together again. We walk different paths… I walk with Itachi… I walk with my brother to obtain his dream. I will cast everything that I feel aside. My hate has turned into love; it's the magic of my heart. The things that I fear most will become what I love."

Footsteps walked closer to him. "Sasuke? What happened to you?"

Sasuke turned to look at the form of his brother, he looked haggard, tired, he was working all day long pulling strings to get his dream. Even through the fatigue he saw something in his eyes, he looked concerned.

"Itachi?" Sasuke breathed running to his brother hugging him tightly. "You're alright… I as so scared when you weren't here…"

The older brother's eyes were still fixed on the blood. "Who the hell did this to you? You're bleeding…"

Sasuke watched as Itachi dipped his fingers in the blood. "I'm sorry…"

Itachi's eyes widened as he swallowed hard. "Who the hell did this to you? Who hurt you?" he stroked Sasuke's face spreading the blood down his cheeks. "Sasuke… what happened? Tell me!"

They made deep eye contact, Sasuke's eyes welling up with tears. "I'm sorry…"

Itachi wrapped his arms around him tightly feeling the blood drip to the ground harder. "Sasuke… what happened to you? I thought you said you could handle it? Were you just trying to act strong for me? Sasuke, running into danger doesn't make you strong. I know more than anyone that you're not the type to admit that something hurt you. Tell me, Sasuke, what the hell happened?"

Sasuke buried his face in his brother's shoulder sobbing violently, his body shaking up against his. "You make me feel like an eight-year-old again, I feel so weak right now. I couldn't do it…" he swallowed hard trying to muffle his cries. "I tried, I really tried, but it hurt so much… I couldn't see straight…"

The embrace around Sasuke became tight as if out of shock. "Couldn't see?"

"Blood was running from my eyes…" Sasuke continued.

"Blood?" Itachi closed his eyes tightly hissing the words. "Mangekyou sharingan."

Sasuke sobbed viciously. As he cried harder he tried to make out words that seemed like they were going to kill someone. When he said it though, they were like a blade that Itachi never wanted to hear.

"Don't kill me," the young boy desperately. "Don't kill me, Itachi…"

Itachi wrapped his arms around him tighter, his eyes filled with emotions for once in Sasuke's presence. Was it guilt? Was he starting to feel like he was responsible for all of the pain in the young boy's life? The words had fazed him, his heart beating harder in his chest running through Sasuke's body, making him tremble passionately.

Suspended off of the ground, Sasuke held onto his brother tightly, repeating his plea almost screaming as he sobbed violently. He was begging for his life hoping that his brother would find some mercy in his heart, but as he was pressed up against his bedroom door looking straight into Itachi's eyes, Sasuke knew that his fate was here. What he didn't expect was to feel his brother's lips up against his, kissing him lovingly. His tongue was making love to his mouth forcing the blood to run cold in his veins. Tightening his legs around Itachi's body he leaned forward into the kiss, Sasuke's hands running through his brother's hair.

"I won't kill you," Itachi purred. "You did well, better than I thought you would. If your eyes were bleeding… that means you saw the power of the mangekyou…"

"You never said it hurt," Sasuke breathed pulling harder on raven hair.

"I never said it didn't…" he looked into Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke panted as he returned the gaze. "I screwed up… I was fixated on the pain that I brought Naruto back. He's my best friend, Itachi, and looking into his eyes, watching the blood run down his face, I lost my mind for a second. It hurt to breathe, and every heartbeat was torture…"

"But you're alright now. He's alive," Itachi licked along Sasuke's pulse point hearing him moan loudly. "Don't cry anymore… I hate to see you like this."

"But…"

"Please don't cry, Sasuke," Itachi soothed. "I'm not going to kill you even though you couldn't kill him. As long as that organization didn't get the fox it wasn't a total failure. You tried; I'm going to let that pass. You felt as though the life of your best friend was too great of a price. That's understandable. It was easy for me to give up Shisui, but I thought…" he closed his eyes as if he was remembering a harsh cold memory. "I should get you inside."

Sasuke thought about all that Itachi had gone through, he remembered the way that Shisui looked at him. He heard their talks outside of the house, the sound of his brother crying muttering suicidal words. Shisui was always there for him, why did Itachi kill him? Itachi had once told Shisui that he loved him? How could Itachi give something so dear up for power? Did he hate the clan that much?

He felt his body fall to the bed as they entered the room, the look in his brother's eyes representing deep thought. "Brother? What's wrong?"

Itachi looked back him. "The bleeding from your eyes… I never wanted to imagine you like that. I mean, I know what that feels like. I forgot that the fox was your best friend and I forgot that was the exchange for these damn eyes! I thought you'd be different."

His brother was usually stoic, but as he rested his forehead up against the wall he was showing more emotion that he thought he was capable of recognizing. "It's alright, Itachi… I'm not hurt… he continued to sob as he looked at the blood on him. "I'm fine…"

"You're crying," Itachi breathed as he moved to his brother's body pulling off Sasuke's shirt.

"Itachi…" Sasuke gasped. "Stop it…"

"I just want to get the blood out of it," his brother smiled. "Come on, Sasuke, we don't want you to ruin your clothes do we? We've already ruined enough of them throughout our whole journey."

"Don't bring that night up. God it wasn't even rape…" Sasuke breathed as Itachi pulled his shirt off.

"What?" Itachi asked raising a curious eyebrow.

Sasuke swallowed hard. "I-I liked it… I liked having you inside of me that night. I have been denying my body of what it truly wanted for too long. I wanted you since we were young, Itachi, those nights when you held me…"

Itachi rolled Sasuke's pants down his legs. "Don't say you liked it, you were sobbing, Sasuke. Those tears didn't represent rapture, you were in pain. You don't have to lie to me just because you're scared. You don't have to fear me; I'm not going to hurt you. I promised… I promised you that I wasn't going to rape you again," he looked into Sasuke's eyes touching his face lightly. "You sit here and wait for me to come back. We need to get these stains out."

Sasuke licked his lips as his brother kissed him lightly, his skin shaking as he was kissed deeper with every movement of his lips. He reached out to grab his brother's body trying to pull him closer to the bed. The resistance coming from Itachi who pulled away quickly made a tear run down his cheek.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed. "I… feel so _exposed_."

He felt something heavy drape over his shoulders, it was Itachi's robe. It smelled wondrous. It smelled like jasmine, the same scent that Kakashi had said gave him away in the hospital. The scent made Sasuke's body tense in pleasure feeling his body grow warm with passion. He had to make a choice as he watched his brother walk away. Did he want to stay here with Kakashi, or did he want to be with the one that he loved more than anything? Kakashi or Itachi? Friendship or love? Security or passion? What did he want out of life? What did his heart want?

Wrapping the robe around him tighter, Sasuke closed his eyes trying to figure out his inner enigma. The way that Itachi was acting around him made him feel wanted. His hands up against his face made him feel like he could finally hold onto all of the memories that he held dear as a child. The memories of how Itachi used to make him feel brought him to tears, he reached him. Itachi was back.

_"I love you… I love you more than anything, Sasuke." _

Sasuke wrapped his arms around himself tightly thinking about all the blood that was shed from their clan by Itachi's hands, the same hands that had made his body feel so secure. They were filthy, depraved, but to Sasuke, they were spotless. The blood of the clan could never be washed away, but why was he dawdling in the past? He was destroying his life looking back on what happened. Itachi did it for him.

_Itachi… _he breathed as he wrapped the robe around himself tighter hearing footsteps walking into the room again.

"They can be saved," Itachi stated as he looked over at the young boy on the bed. "Are you alright, Sasuke?"

Sasuke watched as his brother sat on the bed next to him. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking?" Itachi questioned.

Sasuke nodded as he looked over at his brother. "I… throughout this whole thing I've been exposing myself to you… but you… I was thinking about all of these years how I've longed to see you." he touched his brother's chest lightly. "I want to see _you_."

Itachi stroked his face lightly. "You don't need to see me…"

"I want to," Sasuke said in a tone that brought him back to the days of their happiness. "Brother…"

"You won't like it…"

Sasuke ran his hands up his brother's shirt. "It would mean the world to me."

Itachi looked up at him. "You're still crying. I'll break my promise if you take off my clothes. We both know what will happen. While you're sobbing there's no guarantee that I will ease you pain by having sex with you, even if you want to."

The young boy wrapped his arms around his brother's body moving to untie his forehead protector before kissing him passionately hearing his brother purr out loud. Fingers moved through Sasuke's hair untying his forehead protector to, the clang of metal filling their ears as they hit the ground simultaneously.

"But Itachi…" Sasuke breathed as he looked into red eyes. "I want to…" he was interrupted by a kiss that pushed him deep into the mattress letting out a whimper of pain. Itachi was with him, it made him feel safe as he felt his heart beat up against his.

"I know you do…" Itachi moved his hand to pull his own shirt over his head looking down at Sasuke. Quickly he undid his pants his vision not breaking from his brother. "Sasuke… I love you…"

"I-I love you too," Sasuke breathed as he looked at the fair skin of his brother's chest. "More than anything…"

Itachi smiled as he moved down to wrap his arms around him the warmth of Sasuke body was sending chills through the genin's flesh. Sasuke let out a moan feeling his brother kiss him so sweetly. Why was this happening now? The person that he swore to kill, vowed never to forgive, was now the only source of comfort that he had.

Sasuke knew what Itachi wanted from him as he held him slow closely underneath the blankets kissing him fiercely. Sweat formed on Sasuke's body he was pulled closer to his brother. He moaned Itachi's name softly wrapping his fingers through his necklace rolling his hips up against his brother's hearing the moans fill the room his breath caught in his throat as he opened his eyes.

"Itachi!" he breathed, pressing his hands up against his shoulder blades. "I…"

"Shhh," Itachi kissed at Sasuke's neck. "I'm here now and I'll be damned if I let you go," he bit lightly as hearing the young boy scream out in rapture. "I love you…"

"Me too…" Sasuke breathed; throughout everyday he never thought that his brother ever loved him. He wanted to know why Itachi hated him so much, why he insisted on making his life Hell. But this showed it, he wasn't trying to cage Sasuke's capacity or hinder his potential, this was all to release that fire that was inside of him. He loved him, and he spared him that night for a reason.

Sasuke kissed his brother's forehead running a hand through his black hair, his body temperature rising as he bit lightly at his lips. Although he knew that he was never going to let him go, the thoughts of taking sexual pleasure from him were flowing through his mind.

"Itachi…" he moaned. "Are you going to leave me tonight? Or are you going to stay and scold me for what I did to your plan," he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do it, but don't hate me for it. I tried my hardest, I got his breath to stop, but… all I could think of was Shisui…"

"I don't want to hurt you," Itachi breathed. "You're still crying, the last thing that I want is to see you in pain. You tried your hardest, Sasuke, you did well," he kissed him again. "And I'm not going to leave you tonight; you need me tonight more than anything. The last thing that I want is for you to hurt yourself because you fear me," Itachi embraced him tightly. "Don't fear me… I'm not going to hurt you."

Sasuke could feel him breathing, it soothed him. The gentle beat of his heart ran through his body relaxing his nerves. Itachi was here for him, he was going to help him every step of the way no matter how much it took. He could smell the jasmine rolling off of his body as he looked up at him, the combination with the sweat making Sasuke's body shudder as if he was shivering.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed holding onto him panting.

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed back as he rolled to Sasuke's side holding the young boy close. "You did well… your potential has blossomed into something to be jealous of. You aren't the little boy that you were back when I last saw you. You've developed well since then."

Itachi held onto him breathing gently in Sasuke's ear holding him close to his warm body closing his eyes softly as he tried to relax with him. Sasuke touched his chest lightly as he looked up, Itachi was beautiful right now. He was just how always Sasuke wanted him.

Sasuke loved him more than anything, he always would.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed looking up into his brother's eyes shaking his body lightly, hearing him let out a moan. "Wake up…"

Hearing his brother moan he smiled kissing at his chest. "What is it Sasuke? What's wrong?" he stroked his younger brother's face licking his lips lightly as he was holding back the urge to take those lips in one last kiss, but his hand was innocent as it ran through his hair pulling loosely.

Sasuke rolled over on top of him, kissing his viciously hearing his brother purr loudly stroking his back. He never thought that Itachi would surrender to him like this, completely crumble beneath him. Hands moved to push Sasuke off of long desired lips only to be met with crimson eyes.

"What are you trying to do?" Itachi asked, wiping one of Sasuke's tears away. "You're in no condition to do this, and I don't want you to have sex with me as an apology for messing up."

Sasuke's eyes watered. "I… I wasn't…"

Itachi moved to kiss his lips pulling him closer to his body, the way that his tongue was moving inside of Sasuke's mouth was sexual, hungry for passion. He could feel more sweat start to form on his brother's body. It made him grow hard as he took in the aroma of jasmine. He was going insane.

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed as he looked back into Itachi's eyes. "I…"

"Shhh," he soothed, his body was loose and passionate, his fingers trailing down Sasuke's body stroking lightly at sensitive skin hearing Sasuke cry out. "I won't hurt you, Sasuke."

Sasuke breathed heavily holding onto Itachi's wrist his body pulling the limb to his own kiss. Running his silken tongue along the palm Sasuke let out a short series of breaths trying moistening the flesh.

Itachi quickly pulled his hands away and took his lips another, emotion pouring through his lips. The colors that danced behind Sasuke's eyes made his whole body freeze in rapture. He was with him again, kissing him in the dark room only the light of the moonlight to guide the way. The colors danced faster, vivid reds swirling with tenacious yellows. Moans filled the room bouncing off of the walls back into his ears.

Hands moved under the blankets coaxing Sasuke to hardness, slowly and gently. His brother's hand wrapped around his growing erection made his whole body freeze. Itachi's bloodthirsty hand showed qualities that were absent outside of this room, outside of this bed. The tight grip, the sympathetic running of his flesh running up and down sending electricity through his body, his lips were kissing lightly at his shoulder.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed bucking his hips into his brother's hand fisting the sheets in his fingers. "Damn you…"

The older ninja's lips curled into a devious smile. He moved lower on his body moving deeper into the darkness of underneath the blankets.

Sasuke felt his eyes water harder as he continued to sob as he felt Itachi's wet tongue run along his erection. "_Itachi!_" he closed his eyes tightly trying to hold back the sensation that commanded him to peak. "Stop it."

A small laugh emerged from under the blankets. "Do you really want me to?"

Sasuke swallowed hard as he felt the tongue wrong him again. "I don't know if I can… I… I…"

"Sasuke?" Itachi breathed stroking the hard flesh softly. "Don't hold back your feelings. Let them out…"

With those words, Sasuke pushed Itachi off of him pinning his back to the mattress, kissing him on the lips passionately watching as purple painted fingernails dug deeper into the sheets. Sasuke felt a rush go through his head as he looked down seeing that he was in complete control of his brother. Seeing scarlet eyes gazing at him with a strand of hunger made his whole body shake. He wanted him. There was no way that he was going to be able to fight the sensations that were going through his body.

Trailing kisses down Itachi's body, breathing heavily, Sasuke moved to his brother's semi hard erection. With a quick flick of his tongue he licked against it hearing Itachi moan out loud. A smile went to Sasuke's lips as he heard the purrs bubbling from his brother's throat.

"S-Sasuke…"

Sasuke looked up to see the raw passion in Itachi's eyes. "What is it? What happened to being a twisted sadist, Itachi?"

"I guess I deserved that last remark," Itachi breathed as he looked into Sasuke's eyes before closing them tightly.

Sasuke took in the hardening flesh, the warm of his mouth making Itachi moan louder. Sasuke had no clue what he was doing, but as he ran his tongue along the flesh he knew that he had to be doing something right.

"More," Itachi breathed his voice rising in pitch.

Sasuke parted his lips taking Itachi's erection into his mouth, sucking lewdly as he moved up and down his hard shaft hearing his brother's breathing accelerate. It had to have been a while since he had this kind of contact. The past month he had been in Konoha seeking out Sasuke, Itachi had no time for something as mundane as sexual pleasure unless by his precious little brother.

He tightened his hand around the base as he moved up to gently lick at the tip. The panting and purring echoed off of the walls sending Sasuke deeper into his own utter madness his mouth taking in the flesh again.

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed as he fisted the sheets tighter.

The salty tang of pre-cum made Sasuke's mouth water, he wanted to fully taste him. With every pulse he knew Itachi was closer to his peak. Hearing the way that his brother was moaning so gently and fervidly, it was going to come in no time. As he continued to suck the pulsing flesh, Sasuke felt a hand run through his hair.

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed as he turned away. "I love you…"

_If he hits his peak now, will we be able to…? _Sasuke sucked harder as he thought about it, his brother could probably do it. He was still young, how hard could it be to conjure up another erection? Before he could even think about all of the pros and cons his mouth filled with the taste of semen as Itachi moaned loudly.

Sasuke backed away with a mouth full of semen as he fully took in the taste of it. This was his brother's. He swallowed a small portion of it; it wasn't absolutely repulsive like how he feared. Sasuke swallowed all of it savoring the taste as the warmth moved down his throat.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed looking up at his brother. "I love you…" he watched as his brother pushed him onto his back as they both now lay with the sheets covering them. "What are you doing?"

Itachi licked at Sasuke's neck. "I'm going to have sex with you…"

"But you just…" Sasuke started. "Aren't you?"

"Give a few minutes," Itachi breathed stroking Sasuke's semen lacquered lips, "unless you're worn out already," his fingers trailed down Sasuke's body grabbing onto the young boy's erection firmly, the young boy's body tightening.

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as he heard Itachi's breathing in his ear. His whole body was one fire feeling Itachi's hand stoking him, his tongue licking along the lobe of his ear. He was losing the internal battle. His body was bucking into every movement of his brother's hand as he panted louder and louder.

"Oh my God!" Sasuke cried out his hand moving to claw into Itachi's shoulders. "Itachi! I-Itachi! More…"

Sasuke moved to kiss Itachi's lips passionately feeling the hand leave his hard flesh grabbing at his face. He could hear his brother's moans as they kissed each other for what felt like an eternity, the seconds flying so slowly for these few moments. Sweat formed on Sasuke's body as he felt Itachi's tongue enter his mouth taking hold of him. Passion flew through his body rapidly with every heart beat. He wanted him now more than anytime before.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed between kisses. "I…"

Slender fingers moved to wipe Sasuke's tears away. "You still haven't stopped crying, Sasuke, you know that I could never hate you," he kissed him lightly. "I'm just glad that you came back to me…"

The kissing started again, the sheets becoming wet with the salt of their sweat. Sasuke's hands moved to touch his brother's chest feeling the pulsations of his heart ever so clearly; his own heart was almost beating at the same tempo as they stopped to look into each other's eyes.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed stroked the soft hairs of Itachi's ponytail. "I… I…"

With a smile Itachi slipped his fingers past Sasuke's lips the younger ninja sucking at them shakily. He loved the taste of his brother, every single taste that he had to offer. The hint of salt on Itachi's fingers made him moan wetly his hand resting at the nape of his brother's neck. Those damn fingers, he knew what those damn fingers meant.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed looking into his eyes licking his lips watching Sasuke relishing in sucking the fingers, a light blush across his face. "Say if you want me to stop…" he withdrew the fingers as his left hand spread Sasuke's legs farther apart.

"I-Itachi…" Sasuke breathed as he felt a single finger tip enter him. "Fuck you…"

The older sibling laughed. "Such horrible language toward an elder."

Sasuke let out a wince as the finger entered him, he was never going to get used to the feeling of something actually being inside of him, no matter how much pleasure it caused. Feeling the finger inside of him moving closer to brush against his prostate made his heart race.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed. "Another…"

"Begging for more?" Itachi asked. "That's not like you…"

"Put in another damn finger," Sasuke demanded as the digit that was inside of him pressed up against his prostate making him scream loudly.

Just as he wished another finger entered Sasuke joining the first in a passionate collaboration, he could hear Itachi getting hard again with every moan that filled the room, the two fingers were more erratic in their prepping. Sasuke clenched tightly around them as he let out a half scream of rapture.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed barely able to speak. "I'm going to… I'm… going to… c-cum," a third finger entered him as his legs shook trying not to lose it. "I… I… I-Itachi! I'm not… I-I can't take this anymore…"

The fingers stretched out, Sasuke screaming his brother's name loudly. He swallowed hard as the digits twiddled around, teasing him to madness. The fingers weren't enough to satisfy him no matter how much pleasure they gave to his prostate. As the third left he could finally breathe imagining the blood that must have been shed. The two remaining fingers just continued to brush his sensitive spots on the inside, Itachi's left hand grasping Sasuke's lightly.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed kissing at his stomach.

Sasuke shook his head. "No more fingers…"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You're ready?"

After swallowing audibly he nodded. "I'm ready, Itachi… you can do it now. We've had enough time to tease each other. But my body is telling me that I can't last much longer without you. I _need _you."

The finger exited his body as he let out a wince, his brother moving his hand to run up and down Sasuke's shaft a few more times. "We're going to need some lube…"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "You're going to use my semen as your lube? But will I feel anything during sex if you do that? I don't want you to get the pleasure out of it and I don't get any," he let out a loud moan feeling closer. "Itachi… I…"

"Shhh," Itachi soothed, his hand ran rhythmically up and down Sasuke's shaft the young boy letting out a few small breaths.

With every movement of Itachi's had Sasuke felt like he was getting closer to his peak. The colors that were swirling behind his eyes along with the electric crackling made his body shiver out of passion, heat roiling forth.

"Itachi!" Sasuke screamed as he came warm hitting his stomach. "God… Itachi… I… I… l-love you…"

Fingers ran through his semen Itachi moving one of the fingers to his mouth sucking on it passionately, his hands moved to take more of the semen onto his fingers gently pushing a single digit back inside of Sasuke's body, the young boy crying out.

"I said no more teasing," Sasuke breathed feeling the finger delve deeper inside of him, the fatigue that he had experienced from his post-orgasmic moment still rolling around in his head. The moist finger went deep hitting his prostate lightly, his muscles clenching again. "Itachi… I…"

"What?" Itachi asked looking into his eyes.

Sasuke swallowed hard. "I can't take it anymore," Sasuke breathed. "All of these years without you, I could last all of those but these few moments where you touch me so tenderly," he let out a loud moan, "I can't take not having you…"

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked as he wiped a single tear from Sasuke's cheek. "I'm here for you now, just because we're going slowly doesn't mean that I'm not here for you." he moved his finger in deeper. "I'm not leaving you anymore…"

Sasuke's legs trembled as the finger left him slowly, taking every ounce of pleasure away. The look in Itachi's eyes brought Sasuke's heart to a rapid pace, the hunger that was deep in there made Sasuke know that he was going to receive what he wished for this whole time, all of the minutes that had gone by where he begged for this moment was now here. He heard the creak of the mattress as Itachi shifted his weight, moving his hands to either side of Sasuke's body. His hand dipped into the cum coating his erection with it quickly but entirely.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed through moans, moving the tip of his arousal to Sasuke's entrance. "I love you."

"I-I love you too," Sasuke breathed as he closed his eyes moving up to meet Itachi's kiss, pressing his hands up against his brother's shoulder blades moaning softly at the passionate movements of Itachi's tongue, saliva rolling down his chin.

In the height of the kiss Sasuke felt something push into him, passion filling his whole body as the flesh inside of him pulsed rapidly sending vibrations through his abdomen. A loud moan passed his lips into his brother's kiss, fingernails digging into the smooth flesh of Itachi's back traces of blood staining Sasuke's fingertips.

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed as he swallowed hard his eyes shut tightly. Every single muscle in his body clenched feeling his body adjusting to being filled with hard flesh. But the thought that made Sasuke's blood run cold was that with every pulse, that was Itachi inside of him. Though it was the third time, he couldn't shake the great sensation that it made flow through his body.

The moments of sweet kisses while Sasuke's body calmed down were over as the first thrust was pushed into him. Heavy breathing passed Sasuke's lips as he held onto Itachi as tightly as he could, closing his eyes until they were watering violently. His body told him that it wanted another orgasm, told him that he had to peak again. The thrust running through his body weren't telling him not to.

"Itachi…" Sasuke swallowed audibly. "More…"

"More?" Itachi breathed onto Sasuke's lips thrusting deeper into the young boy's body hearing him scream. His eyes closed at the heat deep inside Sasuke's body letting out a moan as he kissed lightly at his neck. The thrust became harder, deeper, faster with every pant that passed Itachi's lips, his heart racing causing the pulsations inside of Sasuke's body harder.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed clenching his legs tighter closing his eyes with every throb.

Itachi moved to look into Sasuke's eyes stopping his motions for a few moments, thrusting more gently, his breath thick with lust. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke let out a low moan as the slow thrusts moved inside him sending electricity down his spine, his legs tightening around his brother's body. Slower was better in this case even if it was deathly slow. His hands moved to grasp back onto Itachi's necklace pulling him closer his lips touching his in a passionate kiss.

"S-Sasuke," Itachi breathed, kissing him back moving into him deeper than he had ever gone before hearing the young boy cry out. The slow tenderness of their intimacy was gone replaced with raw hard sexual passion, blood rushing to Sasuke's growing erection. His second orgasm was starting to come closer than before.

His body moved with Itachi's as he looked straight into his eyes his pulse rushing up against the skin of his neck. Every movement that Itachi made brought Sasuke deeper into the relishing heat of their intimacy. Itachi was being so gentle with him, treating him with care with every movement of his body.

"Itachi," he breathed clinging on tighter to him, his eyes clouded with all of the pleasure that ran through his body. All of the kisses that Itachi planted on his lips were absorbed into the moment as more sweat rolled down their bodies. Sasuke let out a low breath as soon as Itachi's lips were gone. "I…"

Itachi backed away pulling out of Sasuke hearing the young boy cry out. "Shhh… it's okay…"

"Itachi" Sasuke breathed watching his brother lie down flat on his back looking over at him. "What are you doing?" he let out a small moan as he rolled over looking into his eyes. "You can't do all of these position changes…" Sasuke breathed grabbing his brother's erection tightly. "It pisses me off…"

"Really?" Itachi purred watching Sasuke move on top of him pushing the tip inside, the tight heat teasing him once again.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered with a smile spitting on his hand. "You piss me off with your sporadic changes. You can stand still… if you weren't comfortable you could have told me. I can make adjustments," his hand moved behind him coating Itachi's erection again.

"Sasuke…" Itachi panted.

Itachi and Sasuke let out a simultaneous moan as they were once again connected grabbing onto one another. Fingernails scraping at flesh trailing blood. Itachi was breathing heavily as he moved into Sasuke's body the mattress creaking loudly with every movement.

"Itachi!" Sasuke cried loudly closing his eyes tightly. "I…" he felt a hand wrap around his erection moving up and down the hard flesh, it was Itachi's hand, the ring on his ring finger digging painfully. "God… touch me…"

More colors swirled as he felt his brother's hand move up and down his shaft harder and faster with every thrust making it difficult for Sasuke to focus. Moving forward he took Itachi's lips in another long kiss bucking his hips into the hand as well as meeting every thrust. The smell of sweat and jasmine ran through his nose making his whole body shake more.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed heavily almost sobbing. "I… touch me more…"

"Sasuke," Itachi moaned back as he continued to thrust into the young boy his hand moving faster as their breathing sped up. Everything was synchronized, the beating of their heart, their breathing, every drop of sweat that rolled down their bodies.

Sasuke moved his hands to Itachi's chest pushing him back a little to hit the mattress leaning down to look into his eyes. He moved gently against Itachi's erection, resting his hand up against his chest. With every small movement he never broke eye contact.

"You little… brat…" Itachi breathed clutching the sheets tightly, closing his eyes as they started to water. "I love you, Sasuke…"

Sasuke moved to kiss at his brother's lips moving harder up against him. The heat in his abdomen was swirling harder with every pulse, every moan that passed from Itachi's lips as they moved harder and faster made his orgasm come sooner, his eyes clouding with the traces of the white glory.

"Itachi…"

"Sasuke…"

The moans filled the room as the height was almost reached, both Itachi and Sasuke's bodies starting to tremble. For once in all of these years, Sasuke could see tears run down his brother's cheeks, the look of the swollen eyes accenting the dark ruby irises made shivers run down his spine. Every time he opened his mouth there was another deep breath of pleasure, his second orgasm on the way.

But Sasuke felt the flashing white heat run through his head first feeling as his prostate was shown no mercy. _He's going to give in soon; the blush on his face is proving that he's battling with his own body. It looks as if my all powerful big brother is letting his age get the better of him. I wonder how much longer it will take. _He closed his eyes letting out a low moan that built into a loud scream of pleasure. "Itachi!"

Itachi's lips curled into a smile as he looked away, he breathed biting his lip blood rolling down his chin. "Sasuke…" he breathed holding onto Sasuke's left hand.

"I… love you…" Sasuke breathed the fatigue from his orgasm starting to take over as he softened in his brother's other hand feeling the warm liquid from his orgasm on his stomach. "Itachi…"

Sasuke could feel the last dramatic throbs of his brother's erection as he felt the end, heat rolling into his body, his brother letting out a low whimper squeezing tightly on Sasuke's hand. It sounded painful, but as Sasuke looked to see the passion in Itachi's eyes let go of the hand trying his hardest to catch his breath.

"Damn," Itachi breathed as Sasuke climbed off of him feeling the young boy fall next to him. "You learn fast…"

Sasuke kissed gently at Itachi's neck moving closer to him, the smell of jasmine still present on his body. Looking at both of their bodies he saw the passion of their intimacy: claw marks down their arms and Itachi's back, love bites all over their neck, bloody lips, and the bite marks that were still on their flesh from their previous times. Sasuke might have been tired, but he had never been this happy in his whole life.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed resting on his brother's chest. "That was amazing…"

Itachi ran a hand through the young boy's raven hair, fingernails tickling his scalp. He kissed lightly at his lips holding Sasuke closer to his body hearing the young boy moan more. The more Sasuke moaned, the more Itachi kissed him, it was beautiful torture.

"Itachi… I… love you," Sasuke breathed as he rested on top of Itachi's body trying to catch his breath. His eyes began to get heavy becoming conquered by the fatigue.He breathed happily as he snuggled closer to Itachi's body letting out a small sigh feeling more kisses on the top of his head.

The sound of pants running through his ears made him feel safe, Itachi's arms holding him tighter. As he fell deeper into the chasm on sleep he felt secure, like there was nothing that was going to harm him. Itachi was here, and he wasn't going to leave.

"I love you," Itachi breathed again. "I won't let anything happen to you…"

Sasuke took another gulp of air. "Even if I messed up?"

"Even if you messed up," Itachi breathed pulling Sasuke closer. "I made a promise… I'm not going to let anything destroy you."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. _I know you won't… that's why I love you so much. _He placed a hand up against his brother's chest feeling his heart beating slowly.

* * *

**Author's Note: **know that this chapter was a little too over the top, but it was necessary to deepen the bond between the brothers. So what do you all think? Good? Bad? Upset that I put the lemon in? Tell me what you think. I love to hear honesty. 

This arc is going to go to more extremes, but the next two chapters are going to feed into the next few arcs which are the most important in this story. The realtionship between Itachi and Sasuke is going to face more challenges than they wanted to.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Naruto or any of the characters involved with the anime/manga.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains references to sexual situations, language, use of tobacco in twelve-year-olds, violence, some blood, yaoi incest, OOC, and the canon is still getting stomped on. This chapter is long too, but the monster chapter is next (Twenty-three pages with a possible seven page lemon). There are also some errors in here that I didn't pick up (I need to work on my editing.)

**Parinigs:**ItaSasu, some SasuNaru, a little bit of NaruSaku, a tiny pinch of SasuSaku along with ItaSaku, and slight references to possible KakaIta.

_

* * *

_

_What a hell of a night,_ Sasuke breathed as he opened the door to Kakashi's hospital room. The smell from last night's passion was still thick in the air that he passed through. Jasmine could be detected from his body as well as the smell of Itachi's sweat. His whole body ached with the ache of the harsh movements inside of his body, but it was worth it. 

Upon walking through the door, Sasuke saw Sakura fast asleep leaning on Kakashi's right arm. She looked as if she had been up all night. He moved closer to her sitting in the chair right beside her. There had to be something that went on, there was blood on her hands as well on Kakashi's sheets, even though it all looked dry something had to be wrong. Someone had been bleeding.

He touched her shoulder lightly as he looked down at her trying to put his fears to rest. Did Itachi go off and try to kill Kakashi? Why would be do something so reckless? Itachi wasn't thinking straight for the past few days, his own perception was starting to cloud with the hate for Kakashi. _What the hell did you do to Itachi, Kakashi? Why does he hate you so much? What did you do?_

"Sakura?" Sasuke breathed as he shook her lightly, hearing her sigh as she turned still asleep. _I never realized how much she's meant to me. She was here the whole time I needed her even before Naruto had come to me. Everyday since I woke up she was right here. Why am I passing this up? _He closed his eyes tightly seeing red eyes. _I did it for Itachi, he's what I've always wanted, the last component of my past remaining._

She opened her green eyes. "Sasuke?" she asked quietly looking up at him.

"Hey," he stated with a smile. "You fell asleep…"

She looked up at him noticing all of the imperfections. His body looked like it had been pushed to the brink of exhaustion there were, dark marks along his neck, and his breathing heavy. He looked horrible, like he hadn't slept all night.

"It was a long night," Sakura answered looking into his onyx eyes. "I was up watching Kakashi-sensei. What were you doing?"

"I was just staying up with Naruto all night contemplating why I want to obtain my dream. The sooner Kakashi wakes up the sooner I get my answers," he looked straight at his unconscious sensei. "There are so many questions I want to ask him."

Sakura sighed as she looked out the window remembering Itachi's words. _"He poisons the mind making you think that you're a ninja, he lied to Sasuke, he made him think that he could take me out. My brother had to learn the hard way what happens when I ninja gets into a tight situation, he never trained you did he?"_

She thought about it, what was Kakashi trying to do to them? Was he really preparing them to be ninja or was he just trying to dilute them from the fact that there were enemies out there in the world? Itachi had told her of what Kakashi was capable of. Was it all true? Was Kakashi really the bastard that Itachi said he was?

"Answers?" Sakura sighed. "What do you need answers to?"

Sasuke looked over at her. "When they were fighting, he made it seem like he knew everything that Itachi was capable of. The words that they said to one another, they know more about each other than I thought."

The words ran through his head remembering everything about that day in the hospital room. _"You're here for Sasuke? What are your intentions with him? Were you intending to continue what you did down by the river? Leave him out of this. This is between you and me."_

But what got him was his brother's response: Kakashi was never satisfying.What does that mean? What did Kakashi do to him? What did that bastard do to Itachi? The words that Itachi said, the quality of his words whenever he mentioned Kakashi, it all lead to the worst. Kakashi had done something that made his life turn to hate and scorn. The look in Itachi's eyes as Kakashi walked through the hospital door was a sight that he would never forget. Itachi was scarred with a brand, a brand that Kakashi had cursed him with that lay right over his heart.

_There's something that this bastard did to Itachi. Was he the reason why he… his mind broke those few days… he clung onto Shisui those nights where he would just sit around and stare. Was that because of Kakashi, or was it our father and that Goddamn clan? None of this is making any sense anymore, _he clutched his stomach tightly. _If he would just tell me… Itachi… what happened to you?_

Sakura looked over at him. "Are you alright?"

"What?" he asked coming back to reality. "What do you mean?"

"You just seem a little quiet," she answered as she looked back down at Kakashi. "It was lonely last night without you or Naruto to keep me company. But you must have had a good time out there with Naruto," she smiled blankly as she looked back at him. "You seem pretty worn out…"

_What does she mean? Does she think…? _His eyes widened in shock. "We didn't… I mean…" a blush ran through this cheeks even if the subject didn't upset him. "I… didn't… do… _that_…" he took a deep breath. "I went home early; I had a lot on my mind. I was thinking about you for a few moments. I don't think I ever thanked you for being here when I needed you."

His hand moved to touch hers. "S-Sasuke?"

"Sakura," he breathed. "You've opened a part of my heart that I thought was gone forever. You're the only one who has ever made me feel truly needed. You were there even when I was at my worst points of life. You're the only one who could make me come back from the dead," he touched her face.

She felt his lips come closer to hers. Itachi made it seem like Sasuke was never going to have any sort of feeling for anyone. Itachi wasn't like his brother; he was actually caring when it came to her goals. Itachi said that she could be a great medical ninja if she wanted to be. It seemed like he actually cared for her. The way that he talked about life with her made her wonder if, was he really the psychotic rapist who almost killed Sasuke? How could a person that cared so much be the only person that Sasuke wanted to kill? He wasn't as stone cold she expected; in a way he was a lot more human than Sasuke.

"Sasuke," she breathed backing away. "I want to know how you really feel about your brother."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly remembering last night. It felt to have someone inside of him. Itachi made all of the pain of the kekkei genkai go away, every problem that he was having dissolved right in his arms. How could she tell her how he felt now?

"I hate him," Sasuke answered quietly, he was lying to himself.

"Did you ever talk to him about it?" Sakura asked. "You don't know why he did it. You don't even know why you're still alive. He let you survive for a reason, and I know that your heart craves the answer that Itachi won't give you. You don't know why you're so fortunate."

"He hated me, Sakura," Sasuke answered. "Why else does someone slaughter their whole family? He never loved me single day in my life, all of the days that passed by when we were young was nothing but a lie," Sasuke looked out the window. _I know the answers, Sakura; they just don't need to be said out loud. Itachi means more to me than this whole Goddamn village. Everything that this team has taught me is all a lie isn't it? All that Kakashi had said to me, was it even true?_

The door opened again, another person walking in, both ninja looking over to see their comrade. Out of all of them, he looked the worst. His eyes seemed to be swollen with tears, his hand wrapped up in bandages. But what got Sasuke the most were the bruises that graced the young boy's neck so violently. All of the gagging sounds filled Sasuke's ears again as he remembered last night.

"Hey," the blond boy rasped. "How are you two?"

Sasuke stood up and quickly walked over to him. "Naruto? You shouldn't be up and about, you need your rest," he looked into blue eyes not seeing the traces of happiness that he had once held so dear to him heart. "Are you alright? It has to be freezing outside, and with that cough."

"You're the one with the perpetual cold," Naruto breathed before coughing closing his eyes tightly. "I just had a rough night…"

Sasuke shook his head as he mouthed the words his voice being robbed from him. "I'm sorry…"

Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't stress about it, I'm alive aren't I?"

He walked over to join Sakura next to Kakashi's body. He looked somewhat distant, his blue eyes void of all emotion. After that one night he had gone from the fun loving ninja that he had become best friends with to a stone cold empty shell.

_What the hell did I do to you? _Sasuke asked as he watched the blond boy close his eyes wincing lightly. _Last night, how much pain did I put him through? Did I really destroy him as much as I thought I did? All I remember is seeing his cold dying body feeling the blood run from my eyes. _He took a breath looking out the window watching the first raindrop fall. _Is this what power is? Is this what Shisui died to give to Itachi?_

Naruto coughed lightly again.

"Do you have a cold too?" Sakura asked.

Naruto shook his head. "I had a small accident last night, I'm not feeling one hundred percent," he looked back at Sasuke sighing. Sasuke tried to kill him last night, the power of his hands were still around his neck as he swallowed hard, the look in his eyes as he told him why he had to do it. It all made Naruto's stomach bubble in pain.

Naruto closed his eyes tightly trying not to look at him. Was he just another step that Sasuke had to overcome to be able to face his brother in a full scale battle? He thought that they were friends; he would do anything for Sasuke. Placing a hand over his chest he felt the beating of his own heart. Sasuke didn't want to know that it still went strong never stopping for a second. Yet the look in his eyes afterward, it wasn't the same anger from before. He was the Sasuke that he knew the few days before it happened, the broken Sasuke.

Sakura stood up for a second. "I'm sensing some kind of tension here."

Naruto looked at her. "_Tension_?"

She nodded. "Ever since you came into the room you and Sasuke have barely broken eye contact. Why are you two looking at each other? Either you're both really pissed off or you've decided to put your differences behind you," she sighed. "Either way, I'm going out to get some fresh air. You two better get along."

"Fresh air?" Sasuke asked.

She nodded again. "I've been in this hospital room all night…"

Sasuke looked over at Naruto. "I have something I have to say to him anyway…" he moved down a chair to sit next to him touching his hand lightly. "Don't be too long… if someone attacks we don't want to be one man down."

Sakura walked out the door as Naruto swallowed audibly closing his eyes. "You don't have to talk to me today…"

"Naruto…" Sasuke started.

"No," Naruto shook his head standing up taking a few deep breaths. "Do you think I'm just going to me run back to you and pretend that we're friends again? My neck… I've never been in this much pain in my life. I was up all night coughing and vomiting trying to justify the real reason why you did it. What has Itachi done to you? Why are you all of a sudden taking more interest in me?"

Sasuke watched as Naruto looked out the window. "I'm sorry…"

"Liar," Naruto hissed.

"_When Sasuke wakes up tell him I'm sorry for not being there for him. But when he does wake up, I don't want you to be too hard on him, nor do I want you to be too soft. He's going through a difficult time, he almost died. Just take his feelings into consideration."_

"_But will he be that same?"_

"I thought that you were strong enough to get out of this delusional state of mind. You don't have to hurt people to get what you want, Sasuke," Naruto coughed lightly incoherently muttering a curse. "It hurts…"

"Maybe you should check into a room," Sasuke stood up walking toward him his body moving slowly as he looked back at Kakashi. "Or you should go home," tightly he wrapped his arms around Naruto's body touching his neck lightly. "Does it hurt when I touch it?"

Naruto let out a wince.

Sasuke ran his fingers along Naruto's Adam's apple feeling the muscles of his neck push it along the column as he swallowed again. The breaths seeping from Naruto's lips made it seem like it was even painful for him to swallow. Water ran down his face as he closed his eyes tighter letting out a series of small pants.

"That hurts, Sasuke," Naruto breathed turning around to look at him. "You don't understand what this feels like."

"You're trying your hardest not to choke after every breath, you're trying to cancel out the pain, but you can't. You're chest hurts all of the time, the fluid filling your lungs slowly. You want the pain to go away," Sasuke explained as he watched the rain fall. "Naruto… I know what it's like to be in pain. I know what it's like to drown with every breath."

Naruto closed his eyes tightly. "Sasuke… I…"

Sasuke shook his head as he straightened out his forehead protector. "Don't be sorry, you were right, I was out of line last night," he grasped the bandaged hand and, looking into his best friend's eyes. "I'm sorry for the last few days. I was being an ass."

Naruto closed his eyes in pain. "It's okay, I forgive you."

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed stroking Naruto's cheek. "I never wanted to…"

Moving forward, Naruto took Sasuke's body into a tight hug breathing lightly in his ear. The blond boy's body shook gently in Sasuke's arms as the embrace stiffened holding him closer his warmth circulating through his body.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed resting his chin on Sasuke's shoulder hugging harder up against him. "It's okay," he kissed his best friend lightly on the cheek closing his eyes tightly moving closer until their chest were pressed firmly up against one another's.

Naruto moved his hand to take hold of Sasuke's chin pulling him closer to his lips as his breath became ragged. They lightly touched one another's lips, Sasuke let out a gasp as he felt Naruto's lips touch his. Last night he almost dies and now he wants to kiss him? There was little to no sense made out of this whole escapade.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked shakily.

Naruto breathed. "It's okay…"

They moved closer to one another where they could feel the warm breath on their lips right when the door opened. "Hey you two," a voice called out, it was Shikamaru. "Are we interrupting?"

Sasuke gently pushed Naruto away from him, hearing the young boy squeal in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to see how you were," Chouji explained standing next to Shikamaru. "We heard about what happened to Kakashi and Asuma-sensei thought we should come apologize for what happened."

Naruto stood next to Sasuke trying his hardest not to make eye contact with the other two boys. "So you know that he's probably never going to wake up. He must be stuck in some horrid moment in there; the doctors say that every now and then his pulse accelerates. Whatever Itachi did to him…"

Sasuke shook his head. "It wasn't all Itachi's fault. I could have done something to stop it as well. I could have jumped in at anytime. Kakashi was an idiot though; no one can beat my brother."

"Sasuke," Naruto consoled. "Someone's bound to beat him someday."

Shikamaru walked into the room looking straight at the ground. "That's what I wanted to talk with you about Sasuke. Could you and I step out of the room for a moment? It's regarding your brother."

Sasuke swallowed hard. _What did you do now Itachi? _He took a step forward as he nodded at the request. What was Shikamaru going to ask? Was there something that was going on with Asuma that Sasuke wasn't aware of? It must have been serious knowing that there had to be conversation between the two of them.

As they left the room Shikamaru closed the door before asking a question. "What does Itachi want here?"

Sasuke looked into the other boy's eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Uchiha," Shikamaru started as he let out a breath. "I'm asking because the business that he's been doing lately is troublesome and becoming a real pain in my ass. Last night I was talking with my sensei and he was talking about shame."

"Shame?" Sasuke asked looking down the hall.

Shikamaru nodded. "He told me that I should never let anyone shame me like he was. Gai took everything from him. He's the laughingstock of the village. No one is taking his seriously anymore. They all think he's a failure. That he won't amount to anything. That ass Gai…"

Sasuke scoffed. "Gai's an ass alright. What the hell did he do to Asuma?"

"He thinks he's a traitor to the village," the other ninja answered as he started to walk, Sasuke following him. "He told him that the only reason why Kakashi is in that hospital bed is because Asuma was weak."

Sasuke scoffed. "The only reason Kakashi's in that hospital bed is because he's an idiot. He knows what my brother is, he's not human when he fights, he never was. He mastered the kekkei genkai when he was eight. Did Kakashi think that was going to be easy? He unlocked the Goddamn mangekyou sharingan, that's almost impossible to beat unless put up against another of its kind," he walked slowly as they went toward the elevator pressing the button. "Asuma did nothing wrong, he used his brain."

"Tell that to the village," Shikamaru sighed as the door opened. "They're all laughing at him as we speak. Tell me, and if I'm being too harsh I'll stop, but on that night when your brother took everything from you what was he really after?"

There was a small silence as Sasuke walked into the elevator. "He wanted to see how much I could take…"

"But you don't think any less of yourself do you?" Shikamaru asked as he walked in next to him.

Sasuke shook his head. "Why? No matter what I think it's not going to make it go away. No matter what I'm always going to be living in that moment. It's not a moment that can be erased."

"_He lost his virginity to his brother in a way nobody should lose their virginity. He feels touched and worthless, one a paper is ripped to shreds it can never be whole again, but with a little effort it can become something new, maybe even more perfect than before."_

"But everything's alright now," Shikamaru stated. "Right?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, I got my life back."

"But Itachi's still out there," the other genin sulked.

Sasuke looked into Shikamaru's eyes. _He's really concerned about his sensei. Asuma must be a hell of a man to make everyone on his team care so much about him. _He sighed as he watched the floor numbers flash. "Yeah."

Shikamaru sighed closing his eyes.

"What?" Sasuke asked as he looked over at him placing his hands into his pockets. "What's wrong?"

"It's a pain knowing that someone like that is roaming the village and everyone has different opinions. In order to save more lives, Asuma let Itachi go back out there. Kakashi was the only loss that we could afford," he leaned up against the wall looking at the top of the elevator. "There's something that tells me that it's deeper then we think. Ninja of that caliber don't come waltzing in when there's nothing to be had. Did he say anything to you?"

"All he said was for me to give up," Sasuke answered as the door opened. "But I don't think that's going to help you with your Asuma problem," he walked away as he heard a small chuckle from behind. "What?"

"This whole Itachi thing isn't really why I called you out here," Shikamaru stated as he walked out of the elevator. "Ino says that she saw you at the ramen shop with Naruto last night and that you two went home together. I saw the bruises on Naruto's neck, what exactly did you do to him?"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "What do you mean…?" Then it hit him. "We didn't…"

"It's okay if you did," Shikamaru answered with a grin. "I just wanted to know. What you do in bed with your best friend is none of my business. However, I can tell that something happened with you too. You're covered with hickeys and bite marks too. What the hell is going on?"

Turning around Sasuke looked Shikamaru square in the eye. "There's nothing to tell about what's going on. I've been in a lot of distress lately. Naruto was kind enough to help me let some of it out on him. He's a very good friend, enduring everything that I put him through."

Shikamaru sighed as he walked after Sasuke. "What did you put him through?"

"I've been moody," Sasuke smirked. "Really moody these last couple of days. I've also have a horrible cold, as you can probably tell. But I fear it's worse, last night I vomited countless times. He was there in the bathroom when I needed him."

"You're sick?" Shikamaru asked.

"I have been since the day Kakashi went down," Sasuke breathed looking back at him. "This pain is nothing though. If I can't take this how will I achieve a life as a ninja, a life to be proud of? There's no way that I could even consider giving in to this weakness. I'm not going to give up that easily."

There was a small silence again as Shikamaru rummaged through his pockets pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "Care for a smoke?"

"Where did you get those?" Sasuke asked, his eyes lighting up. "Are those cigarettes?"

"Asuma gave them to me," Shikamaru answered. "I think you should be around when I smoke my first one. You and I don't know each other well enough, Sasuke, I think this is the time where we start making ties," he extended his arm offering the cigarettes. "Want one?"

Sasuke swallowed hard as he looked at the pack. "Aren't they addicting?"

"We can share one," Shikamaru smiled as he looked into Sasuke's onyx eyes. "If you don't like it then at least you don't have to finish one. If you hate it then I'll finish it off, we don't want to ruin your _pure_ _body_."

Sasuke smirked as he looked up at Shikamaru. "My body isn't pure; you know why it's not."

"You were raped," Shikamaru moved to the front door walking out into the pouring rain. "That isn't your fault, besides Sasuke, I think that's one impurity that we all can deal with."

Sasuke smiled as he followed him out into the rain feeling the first drops fall down on him. It was cold again, like it had been for the past month. Dark clouds circulated the sky with every step that he took into the outside world. The cold raindrops made him shiver with every drop.

"Where are you taking me?" Sasuke asked as he followed Shikamaru.

"I'm taking you away from that dreary hospital for one," he answered. "Sasuke, you were in there for far too long, you're starting to lose your mind in there. Sitting in bed for weeks can make anyone go insane."

"It wasn't that bad," Sasuke smiled as he ran a hand through his wet black hair. "There were times where all I could do was sleep, that's how I spent most of my time. They would drug me everyday to make me sleep for nine hours or more. So you see, there wasn't a lot of sitting back and doing nothing."

"Sitting back and doing nothing is my style," the other boy smiled looking back at him. "You seem a lot more down to earth these days; you're not acting so cool anymore. You dropped the damn emotional drama and for once it's not a pain to talk to you."

Sasuke smiled as he looked off into the distance. "Well… let's just say that my eyes have been opened through all of this pain," he looked back up at Shikamaru. "Your sensei let my brother go, why?"

Shikamaru stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"

"He let him go for a reason," Sasuke continued. "People don't let criminals go free without a reason to do so; your sensei had so justification to let him go. I've heard of his skills, he isn't one of The Protectors of the Hokage because he's weak. What was he trying to obtain?"

"Safety," Shikamaru answered, "he was trying his hardest to prevent casualties the best that he can. Itachi Uchiha was going to take more than one life in there. The way that Kakashi fell, he didn't want it to be continued with the rest of them. He was worried about you as well. Itachi…"

Sasuke wrapped his arms around himself shivering gently. "He wasn't hurting anyone before Kakashi came in; he was just trying to get closer to me. They all know that Itachi is here with a purpose," he coughed lightly. "Now where are you taking me?"

Shikamaru grabbed the other boy's hand. "It's a surprise," he dragged him along hearing the other boy laugh lightly. "Is Sasuke Uchiha laughing as in having fun? This is a first."

Sasuke smiled as he held on tighter to the other boy's hand. "Shikamaru, I do have a fun side you know. It's not all dark thoughts in my mind. I just need to get it out every once in a while," he closed his eyes. _Since Itachi has come back, I feel as thought I'm finally at peace with myself. I can finally feel the happiness that I once held so dear to my heart. As long as he stays the way he is right now._

"The girls are right, you are a mystery," Shikamaru smirked, continuing to pull Sasuke along. "I like mysteries though, gives me something to figure out while the rest of my team is increasing Sakura's morale."

Sasuke closed his eyes, Sakura. She was taking this the hardest; she never expected this to happen. Sure, Naruto was taking slightly hard, but he truly thought that the rape was his fault. His team had been broken by all of his current actions. They were never going to be Team 7 again, and deep in his heart he knew he no longer belonged with them, if it was the only way to ease their pain.

_Don't think like that, all of the goals that I once had are totally screwed up. Do I want to kill Itachi or not? Did I want to kill Naruto? Did I want to let Kakashi down? Did I ever want to make Sakura cry like that? Do I even know what you want out of life anymore? _He closed his eyes as he thought about it, all of the goals that he once held so dear to his heart were gone. There was nothing left for him to feed off of in his soul. Maybe everything was going to turn out alright; he was going to make it through all of this.

-----

Sakura was walking down the hallway trying to stretch out her legs out; it had been a while since she was able to leave that room. She hated this place more than anything, now more than ever. She remembered walking past rooms hearing cries of woe, people were dying all around her, but the second that Sasuke was brought her unconscious and dying she knew that she was going to be one of those grieving people.

Sasuke had gotten better quicker than anyone expected, only his sheer willpower and resistance to delay made him do so. He was hurting himself to get out. He rushed all of the operations and started to walk sooner than the doctors said he should have. In his body he was harboring so much pain and he wasn't going to let them help him.

He repeated the same words, he was an avenger, but in his eyes Sakura saw something different, he was scared to kill Itachi, fearing that he might lose something that was close to him. She knew that there was something going on between the brothers, and though she hated to say it, the rape seemed almost merciful. Itachi could have killed him, crippled him forever, but he didn't. Sasuke was in one piece and no matter how much she thought about it, she was never going to figure out Itachi's reasoning for keeping it that way.

"Sakura," she heard a voice call out, she turned around to see Naruto walking toward her with an empty look on his face. "Are you alright?"

She turned to him. "I'm fine."

The blond boy nodded as he took a step forward. "You seem a little out of it, that's why I asked," he walked closer still. "Sakura, after all of this time in the hospital I think it's time I got something off of my chest."

She was confused as she looked back at him. "What?"

His eyes looked straight up at her. "I know you like Sasuke, I can see it every time that he looks at you and you look back at him. He likes you too, and through all of my studies while you two were in the hospital room together I realized that maybe I'm in the way."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "In the way?"

"You belong together," Naruto stated. "And I think it's about time I clarified something, you know how I feel about you; you know that I've liked you for a while. There was a time where I thought that if I worked hard enough I would be able to be with you, but now that's no longer the case," a small tear fell down his cheek. "You can back in there and talk to Chouji and Ino, I'm going home."

"Naruto?" she asked walking closer to him. "What happened to you, you've changed. You're completely different than you were before. I liked you before all of this, before you couldn't even say Sasuke's name without tearing up. You've gone through a lot this past month, but you shouldn't take it out on yourself."

"I'm being realistic," he answered as he turned around facing away from her. "I'm going home now."

"_Realistic_?" she asked, closing her eyes. "Naruto, you told me that everything was going to be alright in the beginning of this. You have the kind of personality that makes me feel happy. When Sasuke used to call me a bother and annoying, you were right there to try to make me feel like I was worth something again. Naruto, I liked the old you."

Naruto scoffed as he walked away. "That's too bad."

"Why are you acting like this? As soon as Sasuke becomes nicer, you're a distant jerk, why are you two acting like this? You never look at me the same way that you did before that night. You always were so sweet to me, and only a few weeks ago you were trying to cheer me up," she whimpered. "Are you going to hurt yourself?"

Naruto turned to her. "I know that Itachi's after me."

"_My brother said that his organization has an interest in you and out of stupidity I thought that the only way to save you from that dark fate was to kill you and obtain the power that I needed."_

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. "He wants you? What for?"

"I'm the nine-tails," Naruto sighed as he looked over at her with broken blue eyes. "I'm nothing more to anyone else but that monster. I thought that maybe Sasuke would understand and to my surprise he does. He's trying to protect me from that dark fate, and I respect him for that, but… I can't live like this Sakura."

"People care," her voice was close to a sob.

"People push me away because I'm different. I know I'm an abomination, I know that I'm nothing more than just a monster and it was a miracle that I've gone this far acting like a human, but I can't lie anymore, I'm not like Sasuke, I'm not human. Everything that I am is because of the fox, without it I'm nothing," Naruto sighed turning around again. "I'm leaving." After taking two steps he heard her call out to him.

"What happened last night?" she asked. "What are those bruises on your neck, Naruto? Sasuke looks pretty beat up too. What did you two do to each other last night? Did you get into a fight?"

"No, we didn't get into a fight," Naruto answered continuing to walk. "I'm leaving, Sakura, I'll see you tomorrow."

She grabbed his arm. "What are you trying to do to yourself?"

"What are you trying to imply?" he asked. "You think I'm going to hurt myself? If I decide to do something to my body Sakura it's none of your business."

"Are you that jealous?" she argued. "Are you upset that Sasuke kissed me, Naruto? If so you're not the same Naruto that I know. You never seemed to have a problem with me being with Sasuke before. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?"

Naruto sniffled as he fought tears. "Because… I'm losing everything that I thought was important to me, I've already lost my best friend. You're the last thing that I have left, but then again there's a difference between you and Sasuke. I love you, Sakura, but I'm going to let you go, no matter how hard it is."

"Naruto?" she asked grabbing his arm tighter. "I'm…"

The door to Kakashi's room opened as they heard a voice call out. "Looks like you two are having a fight. Are you two having a lover's quarrel?"

Sakura turned to the door letting go of Naruto's arm. "Ino, we aren't fighting. I was just talking to Naruto, there's nothing going on here. We're discussing the fate of our team."

Naruto scoffed. "I'm out of here."

He walked away sending chills down Sakura's spine. That wasn't Naruto. Did he get sick of waiting and he decided that he could live without her? He was always persistent, kept on fighting for her trying to be better than Sasuke to impress her, but she never paid attention. She always found him annoying, yet as he walked away she knew that there was something wrong.

"Naruto," she whispered, a tear running down her cheek.

Ino looked over at her. "That was cold."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

Ino sighed. "Do you know what it feels like, Sakura? To be pursuing someone fighting with a person that you know that you will never beat. And then when they win you still want to be with the person, but they find you annoying and a waste of time. It hurts every time you walk out of the room and every time you see them together. It's not a little pain; it's a deep searing pain that cuts like a knife right through the heart."

Sakura looked over at her with sympathetic green eyes. "Sasuke? Is that what you're talking about?"

"Sakura, you know that I'm happy for you, it's great that you won, but then again you never know if you do win. All I'm saying is I know how that boy feels walking away from you right now. He's a good kid, he's funny and he's a shoulder to cry on. He helped Sasuke though his troubles and look at him now, he's smiling, laughing, he's become a nicer person because of it."

Sakura closed her eyes. "But then when I look at Naruto I know that I could never be with someone like that. He's just so free-spirited and full of life. He was never the type to sit around and mope not until the day when we say Sasuke's body. He's still living with the guilt everyday. I know that he's going to break, there's no stopping him now, and even though it pains me I know that he's not strong enough to take all of this pain. He carries the nine tailed fox in his body."

Ino looked back at her to see Chouji still in the doorway. "Asuma was right, they are in pain."

Chouji nodded, looking over at Sakura. "I just didn't think Naruto was going to take it the hardest out of the three. I mean did you see the look in his eyes Ino, he's definitely got some sort of anger in his body."

Sakura looked in the trail of where Naruto walked and realized that there was something wrong with him. He was taking it harder than usual, was he really going to keep blaming what happened to Sasuke on him no matter how many times people said it wasn't his fault. Sasuke had come to grips with it and it opened his eyes to live life better than he ever had before. But even when Sasuke and Naruto were together and the guilt could finally be gone he still felt guilty. She had never seen Naruto hug anyone so much in her life, nor did she ever see Sasuke hug back. They were becoming better friends everyday.

"But on the bright side, I think Naruto might be developing a crush on Sasuke," Chouji smiled. "They were kissing when I came into the room."

Sakura looked back at him. "_Kissing_? What do you mean _kissing_?"

"As in their lips were touching and they had that look in their eyes," Chouji continued. "I knew there was something going on with them when Ino said she saw them walking home together from the ramen shop."

"They didn't do anything," Sakura continued as she looked straight down the hall. "Naruto would never do that."

"I saw what I saw," Ino continued. "I saw them having a good time at the ramen shop and then they walked home so close. It was so cute watching Sasuke smile like that."

Sakura closed her eyes as she looked away from the other two thinking about all that her team had been through. Ever since Itachi raped Sasuke there was nothing but absolute pain in her life. Sasuke was either coming to grips with life benig more precious or he was covering up his fear. In the meantime Naruto was trying to cope with the guilt of what was going on with Sasuke. She was left behind once again forced to watch their backs as they kept going forward. She was only a person in the background to help pick up the pieces as they crumbled apart.

The job seemed easy enough, but still she failed. She had let the two of them destroy their lives. The bruises on Naruto's neck, the look of guilt deep in Sasuke's eyes as he looked upon the marks, they weren't adding up. What exactly happened last night that they weren't telling her? What were they up to?

-----

"I win again, Sasuke," Shikamaru sighed. "You suck at this game."

Sasuke looked down at the shogi board and then back up at Shikamaru. "That's the fourth time you've beaten me. You're really taking the fun out of this game. Can't you let me win?"

"Are you going to stomp your feet and whine if you don't get your way?" Shikamaru chuckled digging around in his pockets. "I think it's about time we got you to relax," he pulled out the pack of cigarettes. "I've decided that you're problem is that you care too much about what you think about yourself. You need to loosen up and go after what you want and give up this whole _I'm going to kill you _spiel."

Sasuke sighed as he glanced at the pack of cigarettes. "Is that really what you think?"

"That you're a spoiled brat that only cares bout himself?" Shikamaru asked.

Sasuke moved to grab a cigarette. _I was only that cold because I thought that was the only way to beat Itachi at his own game. But I was let down when I found out my brother isn't perfect, he has human emotions. I wasted all of these years being alone, but I obtained the power that I needed. I need answer to my questions._

"But you've been a lot nicer lately," Shikamaru smirked.

"I know," Sasuke breathed rolling the cigarette through his fingers looking at the white cylinder. "I've always been nice, Shikamaru, I just don't like people who are going to get in my way. You aren't that kind of guy, I have no real emotional attachment to you." he placed the cylinder in his lips. "Got a light?"

"You look weird like that," Shikamaru laughed as he looked at the cigarette situated between Sasuke's lips. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Asuma's lighter lighting it quickly. "I don't know why he gave me these, he's acting like he's going to die, but Itachi said that no one was going to get hurt," he watched the smoke rise from the cigarettes. "Itachi's a man of his word."

Closing his eyes Sasuke took the first drag, what he heard all the smokers describe as a pleasure only tasted horrible to him. It tasted like ash, his eyes watering violently as he took in the smoke. The second that he felt the smoke see into his lungs he took the cigarette out of his mouth and coughed.

"I knew people like you don't smoke," Shikamaru smiled as he pulled the cigarette out of Sasuke's fingers placing it into his own lips. "I knew that good ninja never smoke, there must be a principle against impurities."

"I don't have all of the principles memorized," Sasuke shook his head as he looked down at the shogi board. "There are a lot of principles I've probably broken beyond repair. I know there's a principle against vulgar language, and you know how much I curse."

"I don't think that's a bad thing," Shikamaru answered with a grin. "Come on, Sasuke, you were the best ninja in our class, everything was so easy to you. You made all of us look like idiots. You still do every single day. When the doctors said you should be in the hospital for months you get out in twenty days. When a normal person should have died with that much blood loss, you made us all look like idiots yet again because you're still here. Besides, I hear you and Naruto are getting to be better friends," he took a breath. "I saw him kissing you."

"Oh," Sasuke sighed. "You mean recently? I was caught in the moment, and Naruto's my best friend, he doesn't judge me because of these strange impulses. I was his first kiss after all, I think I was the giver of all of the kisses he's ever had. If he ever pushed me away during these days I'd back off, I know he's gone through a lot of pain. Ever since the day when I was taken to the hospital he was the only one who was taking it this hard. It's hard to notice but if you look closely, he's been losing weight over the matter."

Shikamaru sighed. "Ever since Itachi's returned we've all been so different."

"Naruto's been acting really strange, I don't like it," Sasuke sighed as he looked at Shikamaru who was smoking the cigarette watching the boy's eyes water. "I know that I've broken him, he's never been like this before. It was because what I did last night."

"What did you do?" Shikamaru questioned.

Sasuke looked up into Shikamaru's eyes. "I think he was upset because I tried to go home with him. You know what he thought was going to be going on between us. He thought that I was going to pressure him into something that he wasn't ready for."

"Did you?" Shikamaru asked.

"No!" Sasuke rebutted. "I could never do that to him. That's a step that I can't take with him. The path that I walk in a dangerous one and the last thing that I need is for him to get involved in this. Naruto's too close to me, and I'm not going to allow myself to sit back and let them get hurt because I was an idiot. I'm not going to let him die for my cause."

"That's noble," the other genin answered as he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Did you hear about the thunderstorm tonight? It should be a huge one. They say people could die by being outside so the last thing that I want to do is keep you here and not let you go home before the storm."

Sasuke closed his eyes, a thunderstorm. He never really was able to get over those without Itachi by his side. All of these years he was trying to kill him and everyday that the weather was less than satisfactory. He cursed himself for being an idiot, he no longer wanted to kill him. Spilling Itachi's blood lost its appeal everyday that went by, the need for his survival becoming more and more important.

He had become precious to him to the point where he felt he would put his life at risk if anything were to try to harm him. Nothing was going to take him away, even if Sasuke had to destroy them to obtain new goals. How long could he keep all of this a secret? They would never be able to understand why he did it. Why would he do such a crime? He was aiding an S-class criminal and for once in his life he didn't care what people thought of him.

"I think I should be going," Sasuke smiled. "Thank you, Shikamaru."

"Any time, I might need more answers about your brother, I hope you don't mind if I ask you more questions," Shikamaru answered. "I'm curious to what he wants to do in the village."

Sasuke nodded. "I know you are and you'll get your answers, just give me time to figure out what he's doing here. If I find anything I'll try my hardest to tell you what's going on."

He walked toward the door thanking the heavens that he wasn't asked about the various love bites that were on his neck or the fact that he smelled of jasmine. Kakashi was still out cold, he was the only one who would have any clue to what the smell meant. He was the one who pointed the smell out that day. How did he know so much about Itachi? Did they meet up in the past?

As he walked out into the rain he tried to think about what his sensei did to his brother. Did Kakashi physically destroy him that badly? What happened while Itachi was on all of those missions? So many questions he had that could have led up to what he was going through, questions that he knew deep in his heart deserved Kakashis or Itachi's answers.

_Life has been so hard lately, why is all of this happening now? All of these years I've been so closed to the world around me, but now that my eyes are open, I want to close them again. It was so much easier when we hated each other, Itachi; it was easier before that night. _He walked through the rain storm on his way back home stopping for a few seconds looking up at the sky. I don't know what to blame anymore_. I guess I can't blame anyone but myself, I was the one who returned your feelings. I never thought that you were going to genuinely feel that way. _He wrapped his arms around himself gently. "Damn, it's cold."

He kept walking on to his house thinking about all that he had obtained and all that he had lost. He got what he always wanted; he finally was able to get hold of Itachi's attention. But was it worth the loss of those who were close to him?

Thoughts of cold blue eyes filled his mind as he stopped again a warm pain pooling in his stomach. Naruto was the one he was most concerned about, he was starting to die already. He caught on to the way that Sasuke was feeling, knowing that he had to die because of the fox that was sealed inside of his body. Sasuke had never seen Naruto like this. He was so cold.

If he did know, then why hadn't he said anything? Why not be more direct? There had to be countless people who caught on to the incestuous relationship by now, Sasuke made it obvious, he'd been walking around with hickeys for a while now and every time he was with his brother he would get a new one. Naruto had looked at them with suspicion, but he never made anything of it. He was being too nice to Sasuke. He was being too supportive of all of his decisions. It was strange.

_Naruto, _Sasuke sighed walking a little farther off into the rainy distance. _After what happened, I'm not going to let anyone destroy you; I'll protect you with my life._

-----

A strange sound filled his ears as he reached the house walking by his bedroom door, the sound of metal sharpening. Itachi was still here. It made him ecstatic; the times with his brother were the times where he could block everything out. Even after all of the times where Sasuke messed up, Itachi never looked at him like he was a failure, he was there to support him.

The sounds made him uneasy; there were only a few times where Itachi would sharpen weapons, usually only when danger was around the corner. _What's going on?_ Every single day when they parted their ways, Itachi would always find some way to get into trouble. What was the reason for today being so intense?

His hands moved to the door opening it slowly seeing his brother kneeling on the ground looking at a recently sharpened blade. The kunai sat gently in his hand as he reached to put another into his holster. He didn't even notice that Sasuke was behind him as he continued doing his work.

"You look busy," Sasuke smiled as he heard his brother gasp.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked turning around to see him in the doorway. "You're back sooner than I thought you would be. I thought you'd be out all night."

"I don't trust you on your own," Sasuke smirked. "You've never been the type to be trusted. Look what happened to our trustworthy clan, you killed every last one of them. The last thing I want is to think that you can leave again when I fuck up."

"Leave?" Itachi asked, as he took another kunai. "Why the hell would I leave? Since you didn't kill the fox I have to make sure the organization doesn't. Besides, do you really want me to leave?" He placed the kunai in the holster. "I thought that you would want me to stay by your side through this. Your friend's life is on the line and you need someone strong to take care of him, that's why I'm here."

"You're here to protect me?" Sasuke scoffed. "No thanks."

Itachi laughed as he turned to his younger brother. "Cocky as ever, aren't you? It's true that your skills have improved, but you still let emotions get in the way of everything. But that's not necessarily a bad thing," he shrugged with a chuckle, "there are times where even I feel as though my emotions get in the way."

He walked to the door passing Sasuke by. "I don't get it."

Itachi turned to him, his eyes filling with a sense of confusion. "What do you mean you don't get it? What's bothering you about this plan? I know that you find some components a little extreme, but…"

"That's not it," Sasuke answered clenching his fists. "I don't get how any of this is working out, how you and I could get together. You know I should hate you, but I can't hate you no matter how much I try. The way that you took this plan, that night when you raped me…"

"Don't talk about that," Itachi muttered with a hiss.

"Why? Are you feeling guilty?" Sasuke asked looking back at him. "Are you finally feeling some guilt in your life? I know that if I died that day you would feel guilt, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself. I know that if anything had happened to me you would never forgive yourself. Even if you say it's out of character, I know it's how you feel. Why else would you keep me alive?"

Itachi stood silently in front of the door not looking at the young boy who was behind him. The room was silent except for the sound of the rain outside, the storm thickening with every second that went by. The silence got to Sasuke as he watched a hand fall to Itachi's side accompanied by a sigh.

"Cruel as usual," he breathed as he turned around, his face still void of all emotion. "You think that you have it all figured out don't you? Nothing fazes me, Sasuke, I'm a ninja."

"Stop being a ninja!" Sasuke yelled angrily. "Stop being a ninja for one second and listen to what I have to say. Be my brother again, Itachi, you don't have to set anymore examples. Father's not going to come back to push either of us."

Itachi turned fully to him. "What do you mean?"

Sasuke curled his fist tighter as he looked into his brother's eyes. "You never answer my questions? You think you can fuck me and expect me to do everything that you say? I'm not a doormat, and I'm not a pushover. I have mind of my own and I want answers to my question. Do you feel any guilt?"

Itachi looked straight into his younger brother's eyes. "Why are you looking for a weakness?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, Itachi," Sasuke breathed biting at his lip. "Itachi, I've been searching the memories, searching my heart for all of the memories of you. If you love me then you would feel guilt for that night."

Itachi scoffed. "You're out of line…"

Before Itachi could even focus, a pain went through his body as his face was hit, blood trailing from his nose. The look on Sasuke's face as his hit the flesh was filled with hate, all of the hate from the past years coming to the surface once again. Did he enjoy watching Itachi bleed? The force pushed Itachi to slam against the door a small wince leaving his lips accompanied with more crimson.

"Don't fuck with me," Sasuke smirked as he walked to his brother's bleeding body kneeling down next to him. He looked into his eyes as he moved closer. "You can't try to control me, Itachi, not until you tell me you answer me."

Itachi ran a bloody hand through Sasuke's hair. "Cruel as always, you little brat," he pushed the back of the young boy's head pulling him closer into a passionate kiss, his blood running down Sasuke's face.

Sasuke returned the kiss wrapping his arms around Itachi's waist pulling him in closer. The rougher that they were with each other the more passion that would seep through, Sasuke found this out not too long ago. The way that Itachi was kissing his lips, his tongue messaging the insides of his mouth, it made him want more.

"You always have to hit me," Itachi breathed as he looked into Sasuke's eyes backing away. "Your answers will come soon enough, Sasuke, don't worry. But for now, it's not your concern. I don't want to give myself away."

The first roll of thunder filled the sky as they held each other, Sasuke's body starting to give out on him. He clutched onto Itachi's body closer resting his head up against his chest.

"Shhh," Itachi breathed as he wrapped his own arms around the young boy.

"You're still going to comfort me after all I did?" Sasuke asked raising a curious eyebrow. _There is no way that he didn't feel guilty that night; I can tell by the way he's holding me that he's glad I survived that encounter. Itachi, why are you doing all of this for me? You know you don't have to._

"I'm not one who takes it out on a person who didn't make a harsh attack. You know that you weren't trying to cripple me emotionally with that; you were just speaking out of hatred. You have a short temper," Itachi pulled him closer as he picked him up moving to grab his robe in his other hand. "I'm going to show you that it's not going to hurt you."

The door opened as the wind blew into the room. They were going out into the storm. Rain poured over the edge the roof falling to the ground. It was so dark out there, the lightening lighting up the sky as his brother pulled him out closer into the night. The cool air was brushing gently up against his face his body pushing closer to steal the heat of his body.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked shivering holding onto the fishnet of his sleeves. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to help you get over your fear," Itachi said gently. "You can hang onto me if you want," he grasped the young boy's hand as he went further out into the darkness of the night. His hand wasn't going to let go of him, the tight grip ensuring that he was going to be safe.

Sasuke looked out into the storm as he held onto Itachi tighter whimpering almost silently. Even though the lightning and the rolls of thunder struck fear into his heart he knew Itachi wasn't going to let him suffer. This was another trial by fire, but unlike their father, he would pull Sasuke out before he got burned beyond repair.

"See it's not so bad," Itachi breathed holding Sasuke tighter. "Nothing about it is going to hurt you."

Sasuke moved closer to Itachi's heart listening to the beating echo in his ears. As long as he heard the sound of Itachi's heart he knew that the lightning wouldn't hurt him. His brother had made a vow to not let anything happen to him no matter what.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "Is this another test?"

"I have to test you, don't I?" Itachi asked holding the young ninja closer. "The more you say that you're ready, the more that I understand that the life of ninja is more than just a game. I don't know what the academy told you, but this isn't a game, it's a struggle. As you saw first hand in the hospital room, the life of a ninja isn't a solid one and there's no guarantee that you'll come out of a fight with your life."

A hand ran through Sasuke's hair, a moan seeping past the boy's lips. Was a thunderstorm really that bad? There were times where he remembered doing more than just whimpering clinging to his brother, there were more embarrassing times. His parents never knew he had a bed wetting problem, Sasuke never told them, he told Itachi. He was the only one who cared for him. Throughout his childhood he never remembered anyone who cared that much.

"It's beautiful," Sasuke breathed, holding onto the sleeve tighter looking up into his brother's eyes. "But it's still terrifying; do you know what that could do?"

"Paranoia is going to be your downfall," Itachi breathed as he pulled Sasuke closer to his body looking off into the distance. "I told you that nothing is going to hurt you as long as I'm alive, you're never going to go through that much pain if I'm around to help you live your life."

Sasuke closed his eyes moving closer, kissing lightly at Itachi's chest. "That's bullshit, Itachi and you know it."

"Only if you want it to be," Itachi answered moving to lean up against the wall falling to the ground gently hearing the young boy gasp. "If you think it's all a lie then it can't be helped. All I know is that I'm not going to leave here knowing that they could win this battle. I won't lose, I refuse."

Sasuke moved into Itachi's kiss stroking his face lightly. Throughout the whole day Sasuke had to mask everything, trying not to let anyone know that he was coming home to sleep with his brother almost every night. The feelings that had so long been hidden throughout the day came out suddenly as he was with Itachi, the raw passion that was suppressed for all of these years spilling rapidly.

"I love you," Sasuke panted as he backed away from the kiss his heart racing in his chest as the spell of fatigue took over. He was starting to lose all focus on the moment, all of the sleepless nights finally coming back to haunt him.

"I love you too," Itachi answered placing the robe to cover Sasuke's shivering body. "You need your rest; your health is already at risk."

Sasuke closed his eyes tighter, the second that he fell asleep; there would be no telling what Itachi would do. He had already sworn to make Kakashi pay for interfering. Or it could be worse yet; he could try to go after Naruto to finish the job that Sasuke couldn't do. He wouldn't do that, he wouldn't hurt him that badly after he told him not to touch him.

As he felt the power of his fatigue become heavier as he relished in the heat of the robe, his hand moved to touch Itachi's as he feel even further. Itachi wasn't going to hurt anyone, Sasuke knew that. He trusted him to do the right thing.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I think I should take this time to claify some things. I am aware that everything is too easy for Itachi, but the story is going to het more difficult for him starting next chapter that's going to speed tihs process up. As for the lemon last chapter I'm debating whether to put it up or not (it's kind of dirty.) The next chapter, the monster, also has a lemon, I'm also not sure if I want to put this on either because it too is dirty. 

This chapter was kind of filler, I know, but it was necessary to build how Team 7 is looking at each other and how their relationships are changing. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Did I talk too much at the end? Honesty is good.

Next chapter a mysterious man shows up and another ninja gets wounded.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, if I did then it would be a complete mess.

**Warnings: **This is the LONGEST chapter I have so far (it's huge!) This chapter also contains violence and blood (a lot of it), vulgur language, yaoi incest lemon, homicidal thoughts, slight vampirism, OOC, and the canon is continuing to be maimed. There are also a lot of errors in here that I know I didn't pick up, but I never said this was perfect. Someone else gets hurt in this chapter and it's pretty bloody, so any fans of that charecter, I'm sorry.

I PUT UP THE LEMON IN THIS CHAPTER AS WELL AS IN CHAPTER 10, I HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM!

**Pairings: **Hardcore ItaSasu, NaruSaku, some AsuKure

* * *

He opened his eyes seeing the light shining through the clouds, small traces of rain still falling from last night's storm. He must have dozed off while holding Sasuke last night. The young boy was still situated in his arms breathing gently soft moans passing his lips. It would be a shame to wake him up; he knew that Sasuke was suffering with the start of a cold.

Sasuke shivered once as he moved gently, still not waking, a single word passing his lips. "Itachi," he whimpered lightly, pushing closer still to his brother who was deep in a state of sweet slumber.

Moving from the position on the ground, he held onto Sasuke's body. He knew what had to be done today. The only way that he was going to get that fox would be if he made a bargain that no one could refuse. Everyone already knew he was here, if he asked the Hokage to stop meddling in his plans it would prevent more casualties of his people. This was getting to the point where everything that he was trying was only going to get worse. He might lose his life this time.

Finally at the side of Sasuke's bed he closed his eyes thinking about what Sasuke had asked last night. He asked about guilt. That day when he took his best friend's life he swore that he would never feel any guilt for his actions. This wasn't going to be any different, "a ninja never shows any emotion through what he did", a principle that he had drilled into his head until he felt like he was insane. He would be damned if he broke it now.

He laid Sasuke on the bed hearing the soft purrs seeping from his lips as he adjusted to the new comforting surface of the mattress. Was this really going to be the last time he was going to see him? No, he was going to make it through this no matter what got in his way. It was far from over, it was just beginning.

It was all set up; he had spent all day yesterday sharpening weapons and building up chakra to prepare for the upcoming onslaught that he was expecting from the members of ANBU. They had to become stronger since the last time that he destroyed a handful of them, but no matter how hard they trained, they would never be able to take him out of the picture. He was always going to be more powerful than Konoha.

Not only had he been sharpening weapons, he had even gotten his disguise ready for the attack. He was going to see if the same trick was going to fool them twice in a row taking a major risk. He had to do it all to get back here to Sasuke before he got too worried. They made a deal, if anyone was going to kill him it would be Sasuke.

Before moving to his armor he placed a light kiss on Sasuke's forehead, the boy didn't even stir at the contact. This was going to be easier than Itachi thought it would be. There wouldn't have to be any force exerted to make Sasuke stay behind, he shouldn't get involved in all of this. He was already too deep of all in the inner turmoil that was soon to take him over.

"I'll be back soon enough," Itachi whispered, walking over to the ANBU armor that was discarded to the side beyond Sasuke's range of sight. Sasuke would have made him stay at the first sign of danger; he wasn't going to let Itachi die that easily. But this was something Itachi had to do, there was no turning back now, the more time he wasted thinking about what Sasuke would think, the more time he had to conjure up the long lost doubt that was deep in his heart. He couldn't let himself go astray.

The armor went onto his body easily even if at first he had to almost completely redo it due to his age morphing his body to a larger size than he used to be. Everything was there from the katana sheath to the tiger mask that had been protecting his face back in the day. The feeling of power coursed through his veins as he looked at the mask that was in his hand, the days of Hell had come back to haunt him.

He was ready to go; his body was at the highest health state that it had been in all of this time, even with the broken ribs that were trying to hinder his breathing. Sakura had bought him more time to live with the pain, even if her power wasn't the strongest that he had ever seen. He was thankful for her services.

The metallic sling of the blade ran through the sheath as he placed the mask on his face, this was the last chance that he had to get the fox before anyone else could. He had to do this before any member of his rival organization came to claim the fox as their own. He had to do this before any of them could get to Sasuke pulling him deeper than he had to be.

Why was he worrying? Every time he worried before a mission he would usually mess up coming back with unnecessary injuries that he would try to hide. This was different than all of those times, there was no Shisui to try to comfort him if it fell apart, he was on his own this time. It felt great to have that kind of power knowing that Shisui gave it to him in his last moments of his life. None of this could be a reality if he hadn't given his soul to the process of augmenting the power of the sharingan.

Step by step he walked out of the room slowly; all of the pressure that he should have been feeling was not shining through. He knew that there would be people who would run back through the door sobbing to the sleeping form that they were about to make a mistake, but he laughed at that thought. Would Sasuke even expect that from Itachi? At a young age, Sasuke learned that his brother wasn't weak; he never let his emotions rule him. Even though he always reached out and cared for Sasuke, he was always going to keep his emotions on the inside.

He walked out of the door not even looking back at Sasuke looking off into the distance; this was the perfect time to strike, when everyone was still in the high of fear. No one would be naïve enough to cross his path, not after what he told Asuma Sarutobi he wasn't going to hurt anyone if no one struck at him first. There was plenty of time; there was no need to rush.

It was like the days of his forgotten past, he was off to do a mission leaving a sleeping Sasuke behind. This time he wouldn't be gone for so long, this wasn't a mission that he could take his time with once it got started, he would have to act on impulse and let everything else take a back seat. No more holding back.

"It's all for you, Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he walked forward. "If you can't get the fox, then I will by any means possible."

He walked off into the distance of the abandoned part of the village; he hoped that he wouldn't fail like Sasuke did. He didn't have much time. They were coming to get him. Everything that he had with him could be lost in this endeavor, even his life. There were times where he knew Sasuke wouldn't be able to sit back and watch as everything that he held dear was taken from him. Torture was starting to become more psychologically damaging everyday; it was a merciless world out there. He had to destroy it, every last piece.

_I'm not going to fail, not this time; _he took a deep breath stopping to look back at the house. _I'm not going to break the promise, Sasuke; nothing is going to happen to you, not as long as I'm alive. _

-----

"Why did you find it important to talk to me, Asuma?" the Hokage asked as he sat at his desk. "It sounded important in all of the letters you sent."

Asuma walked to the front of the desk looking down at the leader of Konoha. "You've no doubt heard that Itachi Uchiha has returned to Konoha, and although no one knows his purpose, he has one."

The old man looked up at the jounin looking straight into his eyes. "What of Itachi Uchiha? He's an S-class criminal who's responsible for the death of nearly a dozen ANBU ninja. I have issued an order to search for him, find him, and then bring him to justice. I know that's what you came to discuss with me…"

"Actually," Asuma looked out the window as he paced four steps to the left. "I was wondering if there was any way that you could stay out of his way, to make his plan come true. He said that if you got involved in this someone was going to get hurt, and I don't want to see you hurt, sir."

The Hokage looked up into Asuma's eyes. "Did you come here to ask me that as a Hokage or as a father, Asuma? Because the answer is the same either way, as the Hokage I have to put the well being of the village first and as a father you know where I'm coming from. If the Uchiha Clan was still alive and they had heard about what happened at the edge of the Nakano River, you know how they would have reacted."

Asuma sighed. "That's true, but if we don't get involved, maybe we'll ensure that fewer lives are lost. We already lost Kakashi Hatake to this madness; do you want to lose more?"

"Itachi Uchiha raped his twelve-year-old brother and left him to bleed to death, do you think I should condone that? You think that I should tell Sasuke Uchiha that the person who raped him is going to get off easy? Asuma, I see where you're coming from, but the boy almost died," the Hokage continued as he looked up at his son. "I know that you're trying to protect the village, but in this case we have to go after him."

Asuma looked out the window that was behind the Hokage seeing the dark clouds that still remained after last night's storm. He knew that no matter how hard he tried, this village was doomed to go through the slaughter that Itachi was capable of. He had told them that no one was going to get hurt in this whole part of his plan, he was only after Sasuke and no one else had to get involved.

"Sir, I know that there's no way to make the burden that Sasuke has to bear any lighter, but this is imperative and he was trained to do in the Academy. He's going to have to make a sacrifice to make him pay for what he did, there's no way that I'm going to let this village fall," Asuma looked back at his father. "Itachi is going to stop at nothing until that boy is dead or wishes he was dead. Why do you think he's doing this? He called him the missing link to his plan."

"Plan? He has a plan?" he showed interest now. "Itachi has a plan and know of it? Did he tell anything?"

"Just that Sasuke is the last link to," Asuma answered. "But tampering with it is going to cause uproar, people will rebel against you, Sir."

The Hokage sighed as he looked at his papers. "Gai came in here a few minutes before you did saying all of the opposite points that you've brought up. He said that if what happened to Sasuke happened to one of his students he would kill the bastard. Kakashi was a gentle soul letting Itachi leave with his life, Sasuke was on the verge of death, it was a miracle that he was able to get out of there sane let alone alive."

"Gai is trying to make my life hell," Asuma muttered.

"I can't show a bias," Sarutobi sighed. "If I go with what you're saying, everyone's going to think it's all because you're my son. Besides, Gai might have a point; he brought up a few good arguments about the subject."

"You know I'm right," Asuma argued pressing hands to the table. "You know that I'm not making this up. I truly believe that Itachi is trying to do something, he doesn't want any interference. Just because he doesn't come walking in here asking for permission doesn't mean that I'm wrong."

"Asuma, I think it would be wise if you sat back and let Gai handle this. He has a good idea about this; he knows what he's doing. You on the other hand need to take some time off. You were injured in the last encounter with Itachi, I don't think we can afford to injure you anymore."

"Sir," Asuma continued as he looked down at the desk, "I'm don't think you should be running into a trap that he's clearly set. He may be crafty, but that's not the worst part, he's bright too. The kid's practically a ninja genius; I've never seen anyone excel at such a young age, nobody except Kakashi Hatake. Itachi Uchiha is a tough opponent, I don't think Gai knows what he's dealing with."

"That's enough, Asuma," the Hokage sighed. "You have my permission to leave now. Go and rest and don't come back until your ribs are healed. We don't need your weaknesses in this battle."

Asuma turned away as he looked at the door. All dignity that he once had was all gone. There was no way that he could redeem himself now; he was doomed to just watch as Gai ran the village into their imminent death. Itachi wasn't going to take any pity on them, he had been holding back long enough. His voice didn't matter as long as everyone knew that Sasuke was going to be alright.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time, Sir," Asuma sighed, walking out the door. _Gai, what are you trying to do to all of us? Are you so sick of the village that you're going to lead it to death? Itachi isn't the type who's going to take a threat well. I was in the stands during his chuunin exam; he was absolutely brutal to his opponent. Can we handle that power?_

As he continued to walk by he heard a voice call out. "Still think what you have to say is a good idea?"

Asuma stopped in his tracks as he looked to his side to see the man that was speaking to him with a victorious grin on his face. "Gai, what are you doing here other than trying to make my life Hell?"

"Please," Gai scoffed, not moving from his leaning position up against the wall, "I'm not trying to make your life Hell; I'm trying to save a young boy of the worst pain of his life. He was raped; you're not going to block that out."

"I know," Asuma sighed, "but why are you trying to go after him?"

Gai shook his head. "You know you want to as well. I'm just the one out of both of us who's man enough to stand up for what I really believe in. You know for a fact that boy is suffering knowing that Itachi is trying to kill him. You're just too stubborn to realize that there's a situation going on."

"The _situation _is that Itachi doesn't want Sasuke dead, he had an opportunity that night. He could have slit his throat if he wanted to kill him, but he didn't," Asuma explained. "He never said that he wanted Sasuke dead, but he did say that if we don't strike first he won't have to fight back. Do you know how many lives would be saved? There's no reason to jump into this just because you feel as though the boy is in pain."

Gai sighed. "Asuma, have you talked to Sasuke?"

"Have _you_?" the other jounin hissed.

The room was silent as Gai shook his head. "No, I don't want to intrude on his personal life. This is a hard time for him and the last thing that he needs is to have jounin coming to question him about something that happened a month ago," he looked at the Hokage's door. "All I know is that he was in pain when he was in the hospital, I heard the words from Sakura Haruno, Sasuke wasn't the same."

Asuma started to walk away not looking back at Gai, his footstep pulsating through the ground. "I still think what you're doing is wrong, Gai. What do I have to do to make you understand that it's more than just getting your revenge? This is about a whole village that Itachi hates."

He continued to move out of the door, leaving Gai behind. He couldn't allow anyone to sacrifice that village. He was right; there was no way that Itachi was going to hurt anyone if he got what he wanted. If they refused his demands and attacked him first is when the promise was allowed to be broken. The words were still there in Asuma's mind, Itachi said he was a man of his word, but could he trust him? At this point he had no reason not to listen to the boy's requests; he had no proof that he wasn't going to attack anyone. No one had died since.

Yet there was a first time for everything, this was the time to be on their guard, this was the time where it was the easiest to strike. The village was in uproar still in shock with what happened to Sasuke, wondering why Itachi spared his life again. During this time, Itachi could be planning his next move upon Kohoha and thanks to Gai getting there first. It gave the criminal every right to fight back.

_If it comes down to it and Itachi does get in there, I have to arrive before Gai does to talk some reason into the boy. I know that there's still hope for this village, Itachi gave us a chance to keep as many people alive as we need, as long as Gai isn't the one doing the talking. Lately he hasn't been able to use his head; _he looked out into the cloudy atmosphere of the Konoha sky. _This is only the beginning._

-----

The door opened to Kakashi's room as Naruto walked out, it was the same situation every single day, he was no closer to waking from the deep psychological damage. The hospital had become a dreary place; Naruto had never felt such unforgiving cold air up against his skin. It had all started when Sasuke was only a few floors down dying slowly, and even though he was out, the memories still plagued him. If he had handed himself to Itachi would Sasuke had gone through that much pain?

Hands were still wrapped around his neck as he thought about what happened after hospital life. Sasuke was trying to kill him. They were once called each other's best friends, but now they were keeping so many feelings locked away from one another, they weren't even acting human. As Sasuke was starting to open his eyes acting happier, Naruto went deeper into sorrow. All of the pain was his fault. He held the reason in his abdomen: the nine-tailed fox.

Was that why Itachi was really here, to claim the fox as his own? Whatever the reason, Naruto couldn't keep living like this; it was getting to be too much for any human to bear. There was no one that he could trust, he was all alone again. Why was he like this? Why was he starting to fall away from everything?

"Naruto?" a voice called out approaching him, it was Sakura. "There you are, I've been looking all over for you, I was worried about you."

He scoffed as he walked away. "Whatever."

"Naruto," she sighed. "Why are you acting like this? For the past month you've been acting _strange_. What's going on? I don't like you like this, you seem so distant, it's scaring me."

There was a small laugh that passed the boy's lips. "I'm sorry, Sakura, though I don't mean to scare you, I think it would be in your best interest to keep away from me. There's something going on, something that is going to change the outlook that I once had," he sighed.

"I know the pain that you're going through," she continued as she moved one foot in front of the other, starting to follow him down the hall. "I know the guilt's still getting to you. You still blame yourself for everything that's going on, and that's understandable, but Sasuke doesn't blame you."

"Shut up," he hissed, stopping dead in his tracks, an eerie chill filling the air around him and Sakura. "You don't know anything about my pain, Sakura, so stop acting like you do. You don't know what I've been through. You don't know what it's like to be almost strangled to death by your best friend."

Sakura gasped, she couldn't believe the words that she was hearing. That night when he and Sasuke went home, Sasuke tried to kill him? No matter how much she tried to block out all rationality for trying to kill Naruto, she was starting to see. He was doing it to obtain the power that he needed to defeat Itachi.

Tears ran down her silken cheeks as she heard the words seep off of his lips. "Naruto, you mean he tried to kill you?" her voice gained an amount of power that he never if thought it had, not in volume, but ferocity. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Did you think that we would punish Sasuke? Naruto, I'm scared for you."

"Scared?" he scoffed as he kept walking. "What do you mean by that?"

"I think…" he voice grew quiet barely above the gusts of wind that we pushing up against the windows. "I think you're going to hurt yourself, Naruto, you don't seem like you're in the right state of mind. I'm scared that if we say goodbye right now, I'm never going to see you again."

As he looked back at her watching her start to cry harder, he felt the heat of tears form in his own eyes. There was a burning in his chest as he watched her walk closer to him her arms outstretched to hug him. She was worried about him, and now that he finally thought about it, he was worried about himself to. Suicide, it was the only way to make sure that no one else could have him. But is that what it really had to come to?

"Naruto," she whimpered taking his body into a hug. "Please, stop doing this. Sasuke made a mistake that night, I'm sure of it. He would never intentionally kill you. You guys are closer than brothers."

"_You're not an abomination, you're a human damn it!" _Sasuke's words moved through Naruto's mind, was he really supposed to kill him? And when he said he was supposed to kill him, what did that mean? Before he said it was to obtain the mangekyou sharingan, and then it was to keep Itachi away. Then it turned into him being _supposed_ to kill him. What really went on that hospital room?

It was obvious now, why hadn't he figured it out before? Was Sasuke was in love with Itachi? The reason he was supposed to kill the fox was all to impress Itachi forcing him to bring Sasuke along on his journeys. It was all about succumbing to the darkness, and Itachi Uchiha had made that happen.

They were all blinded, he should have known by the way e was acting, he said that he was once happy back when he knew that he had his brother's love. His brother's love was back now, bringing only more smiles and laughs. Every time they saw him, he said that he still wanted to kill him putting up a huge façade to try to cover it up. Every time they didn't see him, he was with Itachi and they were probably at Sasuke's house in his bed sleeping together hour upon hour. How could he just be figuring this out as he was being hugged by Sakura? Sasuke didn't like Sakura like that, he could never like her like that these days, not when he had Itachi.

"Sakura," Naruto sighed as he wrapped his arms around her, returning her embrace. "I'm not going to hurt myself, why would you ever think that? I thought you would be relieved that I was leaving you alone. All of this time I thought I was only a nuisance to you."

"That doesn't mean that I don't need you. Something is going with Sasuke, whenever he goes around Kakashi-sensei he looks off into the distance with an emotion that resembles hate. Then when Itachi is mentioned, he keeps calm; his dream seems to be less important."

Naruto held her tighter running his fingers through pink hair. "Shh, it's going to be alright, Sakura. Sasuke just needs time to get his priorities set straight. Everything that he thought was the truth is all distorted. His brother's back and he's wrecking havoc on the village. He's trying to find a way to get close to him," he closed his eyes. _If fucking him isn't getting close enough. I have no clue what's going on in his mind, but I have to knock some sense into him. He can't love Itachi; he killed everyone who Sasuke held dear to his heart. How could he love him?_

Sakura wrapped her arms around Naruto tighter. "I don't want to let you go, Naruto. I don't know what's going to happen if I let you go away. You might never come back, or the next time I see you, you'll be dead."

"I won't die," Naruto answered with a smile. "Sakura, who do you think you're talking to? When I get upset and all hope is lost I'm not going to end it, not until I feel as though going on is no longer an option. But it still is an option. I have you, Sakura; I'm going to live for you even if we can't be close."

She looked up into his eyes. "Naruto?"

"You've lost all happiness during this whole endeavor; I can make you happy again, Sakura. I can make you smile and make every moment worth your while. This is not the place for you," Naruto sighed. "If you don't want me to be near you, then just say the words and I'm gone. I'm not going to burden you."

Sakura looked up into his eyes. "I need you to stand by my side when the moments get rough. Sasuke is drifting further away from us. I get the feeling that something's going to happen; the weather has been making me nervous. It's been so cold and there hasn't been sun in days. It's been a while since Itachi made a move."

Naruto looked down the hallway. _Sasuke wouldn't let Itachi hurt anyone else… would he?_

-----

_The visions that were in front of him couldn't be real. He saw a scene at the edge of the Nakano River, why would his mind wander here as he lay in his bed? The scenery seemed familiar but the two people's actions weren't. He saw two teenage boys at the river's edge one face up on the ground eyes cold and empty. The other one was sitting next to the body, his whole being shaking with fear. What was this memory? What was this image, none of it made sense. Then he heard the single word seep off of the conscious boy's lips._

"_Shisui," his voice was shaking with pain and fear combined. "Why did you… why did you force me to do this to you?"_

_Was the boy sitting by the river Itachi? No one had ever seen him like that before; he always seemed so in control. This wasn't him, it couldn't be. He continued to whimper, his breathing becoming heavy as he looked down at him._

"_You made me do this," he continued. "I could have done this for you; I could have been the one who died instead," his voice became tighter as he closed his eyes, the formation of red in his eye lashes. "Shit…" he cried out in pain trying his hands rushing to either side of his head, his whole body shaking violently._

_He started gagging as he bent over onto Shisui's body, scarlet liquid running from his lips, his coughing was violent as he tried to suppress the cries in between each breath pulling his hair in his black ponytail. He looked up, streams of crimson running from his lips and eyes as he said one word:_

"_Sasuke…"_

He woke up panting, another nightmare. This time it was different, it was showing the manifestation of the mangekyou sharingan in the form of his brother. Did it have deeper meaning than he thought it did? Was something going to happen to Itachi?

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked moving his legs feeling a familiar wet feeling. "Not again," the memories of him being an eight-year-old came flooding back. "Shit," he winced the sticky feeling discomforting up against his legs. Where was Itachi? Did he leave him again?

He scanned the room noticing Itachi's regular clothes strewn on the floor, and all of the weapons that he had laid off to the side were gone as well. Where the hell did he go?

"Kakashi!" Sasuke gasped as he pulled the blankets off of his body the cool air chilling his body. _Is he really trying to kill him? Is that his goal? He's going to kill Kakashi, isn't he? _"Damn it, Itachi!" he rolled off of the mattress looking through the window to see the clouds. "What the fuck are you doing?"

He gave into his fatigue and fell back on the mattress. _When has my body ever been this heavy? I feel as though I can't even move. Is this more than just cold? There was nothing wrong only a couple days ago. Now, it feels like I have no control over my body. I feel so cold._

Closing his eyes he shivered lightly with a cough. He had to stop walking around in the rain; it was starting to affect his health beyond repair. How long was the suffering going to continue for?

"Itachi," he breathed as he closed his eyes breathing heavily, his chest heavy as he struggled for inhalation and exhalation. It had only gotten worse over the days. _I hope I didn't get him sick, with injuries like that on top of broken ribs I don't think he'd handle it as well. _He took a breath as he let out another cough. _But am I really alright? I'm lying in bed covered with my own piss, and he's not here to clean me up._

Everything was gone; there was not even a trace of Itachi. He could never come back from a full attack from the Konohans. He would be a fool to go off and try to kill Kakashi again. Or worse, he was going to kill Naruto. No, the second one could never be an option. Why would he deprive Sasuke of the power that he's wanted to give him all along? Wasn't the power of the mangekyou sharingan one of the ways that he wanted to let him unleash all of the potential that the sharingan would allow?

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed as he fisted his pillow closing his eyes trying to fight the tears. He should have known that he wouldn't play it safe, Itachi was never that type. He was always leaving whenever Sasuke needed him the most. Itachi had his work. He lived for his work. He was obsessed with his work. Being a ninja was the only way to escape the hardships of his life. He knew that if he ever quit he would be nothing. He strived for himself, not for his father. Why else would he still a ninja?

"_Stop being a ninja!"_

He tried to fight the tears, but one fell from his eye as he gripped onto the sheets tighter. It felt like being eight all over again waiting for the moment where Itachi would come through the door to embrace him tightly placing one of Sasuke's trembling hands over his heart feeling the pulsations.

"_I'm alive, Sasuke…"_

There was no heartbeat to lull him to sleep; the strong pulsations were no longer there to empower his presence. How he longed for the sound, the sound that told him that he was coming back and he wasn't going to leave. Feeling the warmth of Itachi's body as he sobbed begging him never to leave again, hearing him laugh saying that he was never going to hurt him. More empty words.

"Itachi," he breathed burying his face in the pillow. "Come back," every time he rose his voice to speak he sounded like a younger him. "Come back to me," he whimpered looking at the door hearing the wind blow gently through the cracks. "Come back…"

He felt so young, so defenseless, but he knew he would come back to him, as long as he felt defenseless he knew that Itachi would leave him. He made a promise to him, and he would be damned if he broke it now.

-----

There was a knock on the door filling the Hokage's office. "Who is it?"

"ANBU, Sir," the voice said from outside, it sounded safe enough, he did have ANBU Black Ops around the perimeter looking out for Itachi. Gai's plan was in action, the second that the boy was spotted was the second that he was going to pay for his sins. The ANBU would kill him.

"Come in," the Hokage stated not looking up from the papers on his desk. Through the corner of his eye he could see the tiger mask that was on the guard's face, he really was part of the group. "What seems to be the trouble?"

The young officer cleared his throat. "The ANBU Black Ops outside, they were murdered. It's a total bloodbath out there, Sir."

"Any sight of Itachi Uchiha?" the Hokage asked.

The young guard laughed lightly at the question, reanalyzing the words. The laugh grew louder with a crescendo of elation. His hand moved to touch lightly at his mask as he took a breath from his snickering.

"What is it?" Sarutobi asked looking at the young officer.

"This Itachi Uchiha, he's been making big news lately hasn't he?" the young man moved his hand to his mask pulling it off slowly as he let out a sigh of air. His eyes were shut tightly as the mask dropped to the ground, the corners of his lips curled into a small smirk. His eyes opened slowly, the color of crimson filling his irises.

The Hokage stood up as he looked at the unmasked officer. "Itachi Uchiha, how did you get in here?"

"I told you, the guards were murdered," Itachi stated calmly the small smirk disintegrating into stoicism. "There's a matter that I thought that you and I could speak civilly about. I have a purpose here…"

"Purpose?" the Hokage asked spitefully.

Itachi stepped closer to the desk, moving slowly. "Did you think that I would come into this worthless village because I feel like it? Of course I have a purpose."

The Hokage looked straight into Itachi's eyes as he narrowed his own. "Are you working for Orochimaru?"

The laughter that was heard earlier filled the room again as leaned up against the table, closing his eyes tightly. His lilac painted fingernails dug deeply into the wood as he was finally showing some emotion. The Bingo Book chapter on Itachi Uchiha just became more severe.

"You think that I'm working for him? Lord Hokage, what do you take me for? A fool like Orochimaru would come up with a plan for his own glory. He has delusions of grandeur living in a world of senility. I on the other hand am only here to thwart all of the plans of the ones who thought they owned me," his fingernails dug deeper into the desk as he looked into Sarutobi's eyes deeper. "I'm here to be granted permission to carry out my mission as peacefully as possible."

"Does that peace involve raping more twelve-year-old boys?" the wind pressed harshly against the window as he looked up into Itachi's eyes seeing a raging fire of surprise light within them.

"I assure you, Sasuke's safety is my number one concern," Itachi continued. "The fact that he had to be hurt throughout this plan was a tragedy and if there was a moment that I ever felt sorry…" he closed his eyes tightly as he fought the words. _You're a ninja, Itachi! Start acting like one! _

He could still hear his father's voice as he felt emotions start to seep through his body. The twenty-fifth principle dictated that there wasn't supposed to be any feeling in the art, but this was getting to the point where he wouldn't be able to take it anymore. Sasuke was only going to get hurt greater in this plan, more than he already had. He couldn't care about it, principle twenty-five wouldn't allow it.

"So you want to talk to me about this?" Sarutobi asked. "What is your purpose here? You can start by telling me that."

"I'm looking for something that they want, you have it in your village," Itachi answered leaning up against the desk. "If you permit me to take what I want from your village without any confrontation, the lives that are lost will decrease dramatically."

The Hokage closed his eyes, Asuma was right. He was a fool to put Gai's plan into action. The slaughter of innocent ANBU only continued. What was that supposed to show Sasuke? The boy had gone through enough pain already.

"Are you going to touch Sasuke?" the old man asked.

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked raising an eyebrow.

"Are you going to use him in this plan?"

Itachi gasped, outraged. "_Use_?! What do you mean by that? You make it sound like he's an animal! Is that the word you used around him? Are you trying to deplete his self respect?"

"Are you?" the Hokage questioned.

"Don't belittle me!" Itachi snapped.

"I'm sorry, it's just you rape him and now you're playing his advocate," Sarutobi stood up walking toward the window. "What are you really doing with Sasuke? Are you trying to torture him until he has no choice but to follow your path?"

"Watch it, old man," Itachi sneered.

"I've had it with your games," the Hokage answered looking back at Itachi. "Are you trying to cause a war?"

"People think you're a saint, they're misguided," Itachi closed his eyes trying to fight the anger that was roiling through his body. "I come speaking of peace, but all you can do is augment my hate for this village. My character has changed from that damn book of yours. I'm no longer the stoic and calm criminal that you thought I was!"

"I'm glad to see that you've kept your temper in check, great form for a ninja. Although I have hurt you, you refuse to give in and physically harm me. That's worthy of honoring, I don't think even the sannin would be able to do that," he walked closer to the teenager. "Itachi, you were one of our finest. You still seem like a great example of a ninja. I thought of you as a great role model for ninja to come. It was a shame what happened to you."

"Quit talking to me like we're equals, the sooner you sign the warrant that allows me to continue the search, the sooner I'm out of your sight," Itachi said calmly. "Sign the warrant."

"I issued a decree, that if anyone saw you, you would be killed on contact," the Hokage answered. "But apparently I was wrong about you. Your patience, your poise, it's impeccable," he moved back to his desk.

"We have a deal then?" Itachi smirked brushing his fair out of his face.

The pen moved to touch the paper, the deal was being made.

-----

"I still think it's foolish," Asuma snapped as he walked in front of Gai. "Why would you even consider putting us against Itachi? Kakashi was one of our strongest ninja and you saw what happened. He's still in a coma; his heart is slowing down everyday he's dying. You're so selfish."

"Well not everyone is thinking about their own name, _Hokage's-boy_," Gai continued as he moved to catch up to Asuma. The tone of his voice mimicked the tone he had back when Kakashi was first admitted to the hospital, he was still angry at Asuma for letting the Uchiha go.

The two of them continued to walk though the village ignoring one another's facial expressions. They were torn between two opinions that the whole village was riding on. Did they go after Itachi or did they let it go so no one got hurt? The more they looked at each other, the greater the urge to wring each other's necks.

"You think this is all about you," Gai started as he grabbed Asuma's wrist. "You think that you can compensate for your failure by proving to everyone that your plan is right. Why are you risking the village for your Goddamn dignity? Leave Konoha out of this and just admit that you were wrong."

"Admit that _you're_ wrong," Asuma countered, trying his hardest to break out of Gai's grip. "You don't know what you're starting as you go through life; you aren't going to help the village any more than I do. You're only going to make everything worse. Gai, I'm warning you, Kakashi wouldn't be proud of what we're doing. If you go after Itachi everything that Kakashi worked so hard for would be in vain. Do you want it all to be a waste?"

As Gai was opening his mouth to say something footsteps approached them. "Are you two getting along better today?"

Gai looked behind him to see a fellow jounin. "Kurenai? What are you doing out here?"

"You two have been at each other's throats, everyone in the village is concerned for you. They think that you're trying to kill one another. I heard that Gai got to the office first. So we're really going after Itachi," Kurenai smiled falsely as Asuma looked at her with confusion. "Is that really wise?"

"Who cares?" Gai asked, shrugging his shoulders. "As long as we win, there's really nothing to worry about now is there?" he looked at his colleague with a smile. "Who's it going to affect if we go after him?"

"The village!" Asuma continued. "Please Gai, don't take out your anger for me on this village. Don't hurt Sasuke because of it. It's obvious that the boy is confused how to feel about Itachi. Itachi is Sasuke's brother, you don't expect him to part that easily do you? He'll hate you."

"I don't care," Gai answered as he continued walking not looking back at Asuma or Kurenai. "Asuma, I have one last thing to say to you…" he turned around extending his middle finger right in Asuma's direction. "Fuck you!"

Asuma looked away from him. "You're an ass."

Not being affected by his words he walked away from the two of them. He didn't even acknowledge that Kurenai was there, it was almost like he didn't even care that they were human. He walked away leaving only cold behind.

"Don't listen to him," Kurenai comforted holding Asuma's hand tightly. "Gai's an ass. He's trying to get to you."

"He has a great plan," Asuma sighed as he looked up at the dark clouds, his eyes growing more and more blank, his mind wandering off into the distance. "You should go along with it; it's solid."

"I don't care," Kurenai argued.

"You should," he answered holding her hand back. "Gai's right, I must be trying to find a way out because I couldn't save Kakashi. I let Itachi go; it's only fair that Gai takes over, right. I don't want anyone to get hurt, so I'm not going to stand by him. Even if I am a traitor, I don't want to lose this village."

Kurenai looked into his eyes. "Asuma…"

"Don't console me," he answered, shaking his head. "I don't need to be consoled; I need to show everyone that I'm right and that they're wrong about Itachi. He's not going to take being attacked as well as they all think he is. He's ruthless and he's crafty. There's nothing that can stop him once he gets started."

Kurenai shook her head. "What are you going to do? There's still time to talk the Hokage into it. Your plan could work. He did say that he wasn't going to hurt anyone if we don't hurt him first. I'm going to check on the boy next time I see him to make sure that he's alright with all of this. You two have been too busy worrying about Itachi you forgot about Sasuke."

"I had Shikamaru talk to him; apparently Sasuke was doing a lot better than he was before. He was smiling, Kurenai, he was actually _smiling_. That worries me; he might be covering up his pain. I want you to ask him how he's really feeling, it's alright for him to cry," before Asuma could say anymore he looked back at the Hokage's office noticing scattered bodies in the distance.

"What is it?" she asked looking in the direction his eyes were glued to. "Asuma, what do you see?"

"Stay here!" he ordered as he tried to run away being pulled back by her strength. "Kuernai, let go of me!"

"What is it? What do you see?" Kurenai's red eyes never looked so terrified.

He shook his head. "Dead ANBU, Gai's already fucking this village beyond belief," dark eyes looked back at the female jounin. "Go get Gai and tell him that his plan didn't work. And tell him that he's an ass."

He got out of her grip as he moved forward. "Asuma!"

"I'll be back, Kurenai!" he shouted back as he kept running forward. "I promise."

He ran farther away from Kurenai, not hearing the cries of distress coming from her lips. This was going on for too long, it was starting to get to the point where he was going to have to take matters into his own hands. He was no longer going to stand on the sideline as everything slipped away.

"_Have you ever wondered what it's like to lose a student? What if this was Shikamaru, what would you do to save the boy's life? Would you do what you're doing now or would you issue an order?"_

If it was Shikamaru he would do what he was doing right now. He wouldn't let anything get in his way, thinking only about what his student would want. This wasn't Shikamaru, this was Sasuke: Kakashi's student. Kakashi gave his life fighting and Asuma was going to follow in those footsteps, he was going to fight for the last chance that he had. The rest of the village wouldn't have to suffer.

_I have to get there faster. Damn you, Gai, why did you have to issue it today out of all times? _He could feel his lungs push into his broken ribs the searing stab of pain rolling through his chest. The pain that Kakashi gave to him was to make sure that he wouldn't hurt himself anymore, but nothing was going to stop him now.

_This is for you, Kakashi… _

He ran closer to the building until he got to a man in a brown cloak that was standing right in his way. "Excuse me…" the man stated. "Where are you headed to? You look like you're in a rush."

"I am," Asuma answered as he looked straight at the man his face hidden by the robe. "I'm headed to the Hokage's office."

"Why the rush?" the man's voice was curiously thick.

Asuma raised an eyebrow, who was this man? He had no time for questions no matter how much he craved the answers. Whoever he was he would have to wait until later to go under the full third degree.

"I'm looking for someone," Asuma answered as he walked past the man. "Itachi Uchiha, he's in the village and if you knew what was good for you, you'd be running as well. Go home and lock your doors."

"Thanks for the advice," the man beamed as Asuma ran away and in his carelessness he never heard the words. "Itachi, you old fool… you will fall…"

-----

Asuma got to the door as he tried desperately to catch his breath; his lungs were still being pushed on by his broken ribs. He knew that Itachi was in there, he could hear his voice sounding from the doorway. The words didn't seem like they were malicious, there was a sign of a calm polite demeanor in his tone. That's how Itachi always was, he deceived them and then he would destroy everything. He was crafty; no wonder he became an ANBU squad leader at the young age of thirteen.

He moved his hand to grasp the handle to open the door, fearing what as on the other side. What was Itachi doing in there? Was he trying to push his way into the main threshold of all of Konoha? Or was he thinking about what Asuma thought he was? Was Itachi concerned for Sasuke?

He opened the door looking straight at the sight; Itachi was sitting on the desk as the Hokage was in his chair looking over some documents. The looks of shock on their faces made them know that nothing was going on.

"Asuma," Itachi smiled as he looked at the jounin. "What do I owe this visit to?"

The jounin stepped forward, his breathing patterns still not calmed down from before. "Keep away from him…" he growled closing the door behind him.

Itachi's eyes widened in shock as he heard the words rolling off of Asuma's lips. "What do you think I'm going to do?"

"I saw the bodies, you have sick obsession with killing ANBU don't you, you snide little bastard?" Asuma asked as he looked straight into the red eyes that had been haunting him since the day that Kakashi went down. "I thought you came in peace."

"I do," Itachi jumped off of the desk his hand situated on the handle of his katana, "unless you choose to do the same thing as Kakashi. I'm warning you right now, Asuma, if you step closer I'm not going to be responsible for what happens to you."

Asuma looked down at the ground. He couldn't make the promise to Shikamaru then, and still he couldn't even think about keeping a promise like that. He was going to fall right here, right now, there was no avoiding it.

"Well which path do you chose?" Itachi asked holding onto the handle tighter not even blinking as he looked deeper into Asuma's eyes. His hands were steady up against the grip the sound of metal scraping against the sheath being heard throughout the room.

Asuma took an aggressive step forward, taking a deep breath all the power he could muster forming at his fist. Curling his fingers tightly he pushed his clenched hand right under Itachi's chin in a deadly uppercut watching the teenager lift off of the ground with the amount of force.

"The path I choose is for you to get the hell out of the village, Itachi. Leave this office before I have to throw you out of the Goddamn window," he heard Itachi hit the ground with a large thud watching blood run down the corners of his mouth.

Eyes that matched the dark ruby wisps that ran down his porcelain skin looked up with a glance full of bloodlust. "There's no going back now… you've chosen you path," he pulled his sword out of its sheath. "Now walk it!"

_Bam! _Asuma's foot stomped onto Itachi's hand, not breaking the bones but making him gasp in shock. "I will walk the path that I chose. I'm sick of being pushed around by an arrogant brat. You have done enough to that young boy, can't you see you're breaking him."

Itachi winced as he lost his grip on his sword. "S-Sasuke will do as he wishes, you're not going to be able to push him around for too long. He wants my blood, Asuma Sarutobi. Are you going to deny him that pleasure? How do you think he'll take that?"

"What are you're intentions?" Asuma asked as he looked down into Itachi's eyes not paying attention to the sound of footsteps behind him. Then he felt it, a large searing pain throughout his shoulder. "What?"

Looking down at the wound he saw a hand that had wrapped around his body, a kunai in its hand. He observed the hand that was around the kunai and the hand that was on the ground.

"Shadow clone?" Asuma winced as he looked down at Itachi on the ground. "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to play games? Or are you out of ideas? I thought for sure, the great Uchiha prodigy would do better."

As he kept looking into Itachi's eyes he felt a sharp pain run through his legs, the teenager's free arm stabbing another kunai into the flesh, blood flowing freely down his leg. Double pronged attack, one from behind, one from the front; he was indeed an opponent that was more than formidable.

"Don't underestimate me," Itachi smirked as he pushed the kunai deeper into the leg that was on his hand. "Now get off of me before I really start fighting. There's still a chance you can go back, to where you were in the beginning. Just get off of me."

He pushed him off of his body, his clone moving to his side extending a hand to help him up. Slowly he got to his feet standing by the clone both of them pulling out another kunai as they looked straight at Asuma.

_Two opponents, two Itachis, two kunai, two prodigies, how can I defeat him? There's only more where that came from. He's got a handful of techniques including the one that took Kakashi out; _he reached into his holster pulling out his trench knives looking back at Itachi. "I'm trying to get some sense into you, Itachi. Those men out there in the village, they want you to destroy you until there's nothing left. I'm going to let you out of here."

Itachi brushed his ponytail to the side as he scoffed. "They won't lay a hand on me. I didn't come here to fight. I'm not going to waste my skills on someone like you. Don't you know that there's a principle that says don't get into a fight where you know you will lose," he extended the kunai in front of him looking back at the Hokage. "I thought you understood, Lord Hokage, I don't want any innocents involved."

The Hokage looked at Asuma. "Asuma, stop it! Get out of here!"

"No," Asuma started as he looked at Itachi. "I'm not going to let him win; he's not going to take more than he already has. I made a promise…"

"_Come back… come back safe for me, Asuma. Promise me."_

"More than one promise to people that I would come back to them," he shook his head as he held on tighter to his trench knives. "I made a promise and I don't go back on my word."

"_I'll be back, Kurenai! I promise."_

Itachi closed his eyes as he smirked. "Nor do I…" he thought back to Sasuke his face running through his mind. "I would be damned before I break a promise. I have seen too many people hurt in my life."

"_Stop being a ninja!"_

"You think that you're the only one who's made promises in your life? If so you're out of your mind, Asuma Sarutobi. I made a promise as well," Itachi gripped against the kunai tighter. "Don't think you're special, because you're not."

Asuma ran up to Itachi. "Don't belittle me you brat! I'll kill you!"

_Slam! _The trench knife's power ran across the skin of Itachi's right upper arm the blood falling gently to the ground, hearing the young boy scream out in pain. The way that Itachi was moving, his breathing, he was doing as well as he thought he was.

"I know your pain," Asuma answered as he looked at the shaking young boy. "You lost your ribs and it's ruining the flow of your chakra. You think that Sasuke is going to take you out easier now than he did before. I know your dignity is gone and you're searching for it through the death of others."

Itachi closed his eyes. Sasuke, he imagined all of the times that he and the boy had shared over the past couple of days. The eroticism was what came to his mind first, the way that Sasuke's lips tasted up against his, the way that his body moved up against his as they hugged each other. He wasn't going to die here, those obsidian eyes would never be swollen with tears over his death. Not now.

"Shut up," Itachi answered as he looked up into Asuma's eyes, his scarlet irises burning brightly. "You don't know me," he struggled to his feet, his breathing labored and harsh as his lips were covered with blood. "We're different, Asuma, don't compare me to you. Our injuries were different, yours represents being to weak for a situation, mine represents being too strong," he reached for his katana as he laughed lightly. "That being the case, let's see how well you move."

Asuma moved out of the way of a blow that was to his heart, watching the bloodlust fill Itachi's eyes. The clash of metal was heard as he tried to fight off the sword with his trench knives, thinking of Shikamaru all the way. He wasn't ready to lose a sensei. Itachi's clone walked up behind Asuma grabbing him tightly, the real on driving a fist to the jounin's face.

Another fist hit his other cheek on the rebound, more blood running from his lips. The breaths coming out of Itachi's body were distressed, like there was absolutely no way he could lose this. It was obvious that the plan ran deeper than Asuma or anyone for that matter thought it did. He wasn't alone in this.

"Asuma!" he heard the Hokage scream out.

The punching stopped as Itachi finally fulfilled his hunger, his fists covered with blood, his breathing heavy almost overbearing, the water than ran from his eyes showed the physical and emotional strain he was going through, he really did have an accomplice in this.

_Sasuke? _Asuma asked himself as he tried to break free from the clone. "I'm trying to help you."

"Don't help me if you can't help yourself," Itachi panted, gripping the katana tighter. "I'm no longer a child; I know what I'm doing. I don't need help."

"Then tell me…" Asuma breathed wincing at the strength of the clone. "Why do you need to keep Sasuke alive? Why did you rape him that night but not kill him? He's the last piece to your plan isn't he? What purpose does he serve this grand design?"

Itachi moved the katana pushing it forward only to be kicked out of the way, Asuma flipping over the clone. Another squeal filled the room as Itachi hit the desk face down blood spilling profusely from his lips and nose. Was he just going to play around with Itachi until he was too wounded to go on? This was mistake.

"Is that all you've got?" Asuma asked as he landed on the ground.

Another snicker filled the room, Itachi moving from his position on the desk to expose the bloody tendrils that were running from his nose and lips. His facial expression was blank as he moved his jaw back and forth checking if it was broken.

"You'll regret that," Itachi coughed, blood spilling from his mouth staining the papers that were on the desk. Shakily he moved to grab his katana gripping the handle tightly, his hand shaking. "I'm not going to hold back anymore."

He rolled off of the desk trying his hardest not to stumble to where Asuma was, the shaking of his hand on the sword accompanied by the sound of metal rattling. It all rested on the last shot, although his chakra was still high, his body wasn't cooperating with him. He was going with only sheer stubbornness and willpower.

"You said it yourself," Asuma muttered as he looked over at his father and then back at Itachi.

"What did I say?" Itachi panted, stopping right in front of Asuma. "Tell me…"

Asuma's eyes lit up with a fire that seemed to burn for ages. "You said…" he took a deep breath. "You said that no one was going to get hurt, even though I tried to stop you from doing something reckless, you still feel as though you should hurt people. I thought you didn't go back on your word. I thought…"

Itachi's grip tightened on the handle of his sword as he looked into Asuma's eyes. "I don't break my word. I clearly remember saying that I wouldn't hurt anyone _if_ they didn't get involved," he laughed as he licked the blood off of his lips moving the sword to point at Asuma. "Guess what, Asuma… _you're _involved…"

"No!" the Hokage yelled as he watched Itachi's fingers tighten as he started to move.

With a single movement of Itachi's arm, the sword pushed forward right into Asuma's abdomen moving through his body exiting through his back. All he could see was the look in the Uchiha's eyes as the blood splashed onto his skin; it was a look of disgust for the fallen jounin.

"You could have avoided this," Itachi whispered pushing the blade in deeper hearing Asuma cry out in pain his hands moving to grasp Itachi's wrist. "I told you that you could have chosen a different path, your loss."

The sword was withdrawn followed by a thud to the ground as Asuma continued to cough up large quantities of blood, staining the floor. Footstep filled Asuma's ears as Itachi walked around him. _This is it, after all that I've done… I'm worthless… at least… no one else has to get hurt._

"S-Shikamaru…" Asuma gasped coughing painfully as he clutched his surging abdomen, trying to halt the bleeding as best as he can, feeling his heart slow down. "I-I'm s-sorry…"

"_Come back… come back safe for me, Asuma. Promise me."_

Itachi looked down at him grasping his own chest as he grabbed his mask off of the ground. "Don't ever say you know my pain, you don't know what it's like to walk my path," he whispered as he moved toward the door limping slowly. He opened the threshold of the door walking out closing it behind him.

"_Stop being a ninja!"_

He walked down the hall trying desperately to catch his breath hearing a voice behind him. "I never thought I'd see you running from a fight. The _Great Itachi Uchiha, _prodigy of the Uchiha clan is running away from a battle when it was far from done," the person who was speaking made himself visible, it was a man in a dark robe that covered his face standing right behind him. "You went easy on him, you're growing soft."

Itachi swallowed hard as he looked over at the man who was speaking. "Who…? How do you know me? How do you know me?!"

The man laughed. "The darkness will clear up sooner or later. You belong to me, all of your hopes and dreams are useless. I own you now, Itachi, and there's no running away from your destiny…"

Itachi grabbed a kunai, his eyes looking at the man in front of him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the man laughed looking at Itachi's shaking stance. "You're pitiful right now; you're too busy working on promises that you have lost your shine. Your clan weeps for you, you're weak…"

"Watch who you're speaking to…" Itachi snapped pointing the kunai at the man.

"What happened to your problem with unnecessary blood?" the man asked looking at him with a laugh.

As Itachi looked at him, he felt a pain return to his chest. "Shit…" he breathed holding onto his chest tightly, coughing small droplets of blood on the ground.

"You aren't doing so well," the man laughed. "Your brother hurt you more than you thought?"

"How do you know me?" Itachi asked as he looked straight at the man with the robe backing away. _I've never felt like this before. I know that voice, I know those words. He's playing with my mind; he knows that I'm in a weak state, physically and emotionally. I have to get out of here. I can't take another person on._

Backing away more, Itachi turned around to walk out of the building leaving the man in the robe behind laughing as a smile graced his lips. "Oh Itachi, don't run away, I haven't had my fun yet…"

-----

Asuma's gagging filled the room as he laid on his stomach watching everything get darker, his father not too far away. The jounin was lying in a pool of his own blood slowly giving into his pain. Every second that went by he was farther and farther from retrieval.

"Asuma!" Sarutobi cried out as he fell to his knees rolling his son onto his back. "Hang in there, hang in there for a little longer," he held onto Asuma's hand, the life slipping away from his cooling skin. He held onto his son tighter as he looked outside, no rain starting to fall in a tragic cliché.

"Sir…" Asuma sputtered as he coughed up more blood. "Are you alright?"

The Hokage nodded. "I'm fine, Asuma…" he watched the blood trickle down Asuma's cheek. "I should have listened to you. Even though you knew you were right you came in here and went with Gai's plan. Why?"

"You know me…" he coughed, "I'll try anything once…"

The Hokage shook his head. "I'm going to have Itachi's head for this…"

"No," the weakening jounin answered, his body quivering gently from all of the pain. "T-that's what he wants. Sir… if you want to be a father to me and give your son one last promise… promise me that you won't go after Itachi…" he coughed as his eyes started to glaze. "Promise me…"

Holding back the tears that the Hokage felt like crying, he stated. "I promise, Asuma…" he moved to give his son a kiss on the forehead hearing the last few labored breaths seep from his lips. "I love you, _son_…"

"I love you too…" Asuma stated weakly as his voice was drifting away. "… _Father_…"

His eyes closed as he let out one last sigh, his blood continuing to spill on the carpet. Even though he was renowned ninja known for his caliber, the Hokage felt tears form in his eyes for his fallen son.

"_A ninja never shows his emotions, no matter what the circumstance. Feelings are a weakness and cloud his judgment weakening his sense of duty." _That was the twenty-fifth principle. Even great ninjas had the right to break.

"I promise…"

-----

The door slid open, he was home at last. The blood still dripped on the floor as he walked though the hall that peered into the courtyard, his vision getting more blurred. He was losing too much blood. Was he going to make it?

As he walked by the room where he expected Sasuke to be sound asleep, he heard tears, heavy breathing, and coughing. The sun was already setting, he had left at sunrise, Sasuke must have known that he was gone by now. The boy wasn't naïve; he could probably smell the blood.

Moving his hand, he slowly opened the door seeing a shaking figure on the bed face down buried in the pillow. It was Sasuke. The weakness that he was giving off was cutting Itachi deeper than any blade ever had, even deeper than the cuts that graced his body. Every sob struck him deeper. _You don't feel guilt… not after all that you've done…_

He closed the door behind him watching Sasuke's body move uncomfortably up against the mattress. What if he hadn't made it out of the Hokage's office, would the tears never end? No matter how much he tried to extinguish the pain, he was breaking his promise; he was becoming the reason why Sasuke could no longer go on.

"Sasuke," he breathed as he shut the door hearing the young boy gasp as he turned to him.

"Itachi?" he asked holding back the tears as he shook gently. "I…"

Looking around and smelling the salty tang that was in the air, it was all too familiar. "Oh Sasuke," Itachi started as he walked closer looking at the moist sheets. "It happened again, didn't it?"

The young boy nodded.

"Is it because I left you?" Itachi asked.

"I don't need you," Sasuke answered spitefully. "If you're going to continue to leave me, then why bother coming back?"

Itachi smiled as he gently touched Sasuke's face. "Because I care about you, Sasuke, I know how you feel whenever I leave, it hurts you and it's really not fair that I do this to you. I've been doing this for years; I know that no matter how much I try to make all of the pain dissolve, you still get affected."

He wiped a tear away from Sasuke's eyes gently taking his hand. His eyes never broke from the younger boy's moving the hand to touch his chest, the feeling of Itachi's heartbeat running through Sasuke's body. The young ninja let out a moan closing his eyes tightly, more tears falling down his cheeks.

"Itachi…" he moved his free hand to touch Itachi's forehead.

"Shhh," the older boy soothed moving closer to Sasuke's lips feeling the hand on his tighten around the soft material of his undershirt, the armor being discarded upon arrival. "I'm alive, Sasuke," the breath on his lips made him back away, knowing that the taste of blood still clung to him.

Asuma had managed to get one good hit in when he swung Itachi over the desk, causing his nose to bleed and his lip to break. If he hadn't caught himself with his hand, he would have been done for. The blood was dripping onto the sheets as he looked down into Sasuke eyes.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked noticing Itachi back away. "Are you alright?"

"Sasuke," he breathed feeling the hand that was stroking his cheek move to his mouth blood staining the young boy's hand. "I'm fine, don't worry about me…"

Breathing became more rapid as Sasuke looked at his hand and then back up at his brother's face. "Who did this to you?" he touched Itachi's shoulder. "Who the hell hurt you?!"

"It's nothing," Itachi answered as he looked down at Sasuke.

"Don't give me that bullshit…" he answered as he touched Itachi's upper arm his hand covered with more blood. "You're bleeding… you're hurt…" he shook his head trying to fight the angry tears. "Who the hell hurt you, Itachi?"

"Asuma Saurtobi," Itachi answered as he watched Sasuke kiss at his shoulder. "He got in my way…"

"You took on a jounin?" Sasuke asked burying his face in Itachi's chest. "Is this another one of your tests? I'm not your puppet! Stop trying to test me. If this is so you can see if I'm strong enough?" he curled his hand into a fist. "Don't do this to me. I'm not going to be able to just sit back while you go and get yourself killed because I was strong enough to stop you."

"Sasuke…" Itachi soothed

"Don't," Sasuke breathed as he threw his fist up against Itachi's sternum. "Don't give me your bullshit, I've had it! I'm not going to stand for you going out there and leaving me to worry. If you keep doing this, you're going to…" he swallowed hard as the tears started flowing, "…break."

"Sasuke…" Itachi tried to explain wrapping his arms around him.

"It's not fair," Sasuke fell into Itachi's embrace. "Why do you get to go out and act like an ass?" he kissed at Itachi's chest wrapping his arms around his waist.

Itachi kissed the top of Sasuke head. "We should get you out of those pants."

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked as he scoffed. "This is hardly the time, you're wounded…"

"You're covered," Itachi answered as he pushed Sasuke to the bed undoing his pants hearing Sasuke start to breathe heavily. "I'm going to clean you up. We're going to help you get over this fear no matter how long it takes."

Sasuke felt his pants leave his body. "I-Itachi…"

Warmth covered him as the robe was draped over his body. He was wrapped in the garment so Itachi could move him off of the bed onto the ground. Itachi was stripping the bed, taking the sheets along with his pants. All traces of Sasuke's accident were gone as his brother let the room, taking the stained articles along with him.

"Itachi," Sasuke stated standing up, the robe still around him. "Will you be alright? Do you need some help with those?"

Itachi smirked. "You're so darling?"

"_Darling_?" Sasuke asked as he followed him. "You almost get killed and you still act so calm? Does anything faze you at all? If I were to die right here would you even flinch?"

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked looking back at him.

"Would you?" Sasuke asked. "Would you even think about it, or am I just another pawn? Tell me, Itachi; tell me the truth about how you feel? That night, if there was no regret and you really did try to hurt me, then you broke your promise to me. You said you wouldn't let anything happen to me. But it was that just bullshit, wasn't it?"

Turning into a room where he dropped the pants and sheets he looked back at Sasuke. "What are you trying to prove, Sasuke? Are you trying to get me to cry for you? I don't feel emotion because there is nothing to feel it for. When I look back on my life I see many mistakes, but guilt… that's not going to change what I did," he moved into the room. "So why bother?"

He left the room immediately as he walked away from Sasuke. "So that's it?" Sasuke asked. "You don't feel guilt because you can't change what you did? Itachi, that's a lie, I know that deep in your heart you feel unbelievable guilt for what happened. Why else am I alive? You've spared me more than once in my life even after causing me unbelievable pain, that shows that either you are trying to hurt me or that your conscience won't let me die. You can't let it go."

Itachi looked at him as he walked toward the room where Sasuke slept. "You think you figured it out…" he continued moving, trying his hardest not to look back at him. "I don't feel guilty."

"Then why so defensive?" Sasuke asked his brother stopping dead in his track. "You do feel bad don't you? How soft you've become…"

"_You're pitiful right now; you're too busy working on promises that you have lost your shine. Your clan weeps for you, you're weak."_

Itachi felt a shiver go down his spine as he closed his eyes. _Who was that man? How did he know me that well? Am I really getting that weak? No! Don't think like that, you're the best, _he felt his head swirl in pain. _I'm not getting weak. But Sasuke… he's doing something to me. For once in my life… I think I'm feeling guilty._

Opening the door he felt Sasuke grab his hand. "I'm glad…" he tugged harder. "I'm glad that you're alive, Itachi. I don't know what I'd do if you were gone."

Itachi smirked at the contact. _He's different than before. He's changed for the better. Maybe Kakashi did do something right…_

They moved into the bedroom. "Where am I going to sleep tonight?" Sasuke asked as he struggled to keep the oversized robe up from falling down his small frame. "You took my sheets."

"You can sleep on the floor," Itachi answered tossing the pillows to the ground opening the closet pulling out some spare sheets. "You're alright with that?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Pantless? You're such a Goddamn pervert."

"I'm not even going to be here when you go to sleep," Itachi continued, not looking at the young boy as he set up the sheets. "I'm going to be bandaging myself. I had a long day, Sasuke."

"You think my day was easy?" Sasuke asked. "I know I sound like a broken record, but you aren't listening to me. I was worried about you, more than I've ever been worried about anything. You leave and then you come back covered with blood. My day has gone from bad to worse."

Itachi sighed. "I didn't mean to worry you that much."

"I find you after all this time and then you leave me again," the young boy answered as he moved down onto the layers of sheets that Itachi had laid out for him. "I don't want to lose you, Itachi. This village, you were right, we are hopeless."

"Shhh," Itachi whispered tucking Sasuke in stroking his face lightly. "Don't say such things. Go to sleep, the more you sleep the sooner you'll get better," he pressed his lips up against Sasuke's. "Then we can continue the plan."

Itachi got up to walk away hearing Sasuke whimper as he did so. He was like a child again. His hands shook as he looked up into his eyes, but the look in the dark irises wasn't the same. The warm look of love was gone replaced with the empty look of loss. Sasuke was worried about Itachi.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked looking back. "What is it?"

"Will you sleep next to me?" Sasuke asked moving over his eyes looking deeply into Itachi's. "Please?"

The older brother walked closer to him. "Alright, but just this one night, Sasuke. God you're twelve and you can't even sleep alone," he slowly moved next to the young boy feeling him cling onto him for warmth. _He's terrified._

Sasuke moved closer to his brother kissing him lightly on the lips. "I love you."

Itachi ran a hand through the strands of hair that framed Sasuke's face. "I love you. I'm not going anywhere. I promise that nothing is going to happen to you, not as long as I'm alive."

He took Sasuke's lips into a passionate kiss feeling hands move around his body digging into the flesh of his back through the tight fabric of his shirt. Moans filled the room, bodies moving closer to one another fervidly clashing. The eroticism of their raw sexuality that Itachi was thinking of during the fight came back with every movement of Sasuke's lips, saliva dripping down their chins.

"I promise," Itachi stated placing Sasuke's hand over his heart again hearing Sasuke breathe gleefully just like they were young, tears of joy forming in his eyes. Itachi was alive; every pulse said that much as their lips clashed again the sun setting under the horizon. Falling deeper into Sasuke's kiss, Itachi finally felt complete for the first time in his life. He was alive.

"God," Sasuke breathed, backing away from the intense kiss, his breathing heavy. "I've never felt you kiss me like this. It's aggressive."

Hands wandered up Sasuke's shirt, Itachi's eyes locking into the young boy's hearing him gasp in shock. The visible tremors that ran throughout Sasuke's body made Itachi's body temperature rise. Obsidian irises were glistening in the dying embers of the sunlight contrasting with the bright blush that rolled across Sasuke's cheeks. Panting filled Itachi's ears feeling Sasuke's pulse race to unbelievable speeds, he was relishing in the moment of having his brother again.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, his eyes closing tightly as he bit his lips lightly. "That tickles…"

Fingertips moved to stroke the sensitive skin of Sasuke's nipple hearing the boy howl in pleasure, his hands gripping tightly at the sheets. Incoherent curses passed through the twelve-year-old's lips feeling fingernails dig into his skin.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed lifting the shirt up exposing Sasuke's bare chest.

Passion ran through Sasuke's body as Itachi's teeth gently bit at the flesh his hands moving to run through his brother's hair. His body shook violently, his hands not sitting still for a second. His eyes shut tighter than before, feeling his blood run hurriedly through his body.

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed feeling Itachi leave his body. "God…" he reached up to kiss him, his hands going through long black hair loosening the tie, stray hairs coming loose from the ponytail. His tongue ran up against the back of Itachi's mouth feeling the start of his throat. He pushed his tongue as far back as he was able, hearing small gagging noises seeping through his brother's throat.

They feel deeper into the mess of sheets and pillows that were on the ground, their bodies moving closer to one another seeking the passion that they held. With every lip movement, Sasuke felt himself grow hard pressing up against his brother's stomach. He prayed that Itachi didn't notice that he had grown hard from all of this.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked moving his hand trailing down Sasuke's abdomen to find the hard flesh that was hidden beneath the sheets. "You're so hard…" he let out a sensual giggle squeezing the flesh firmly hearing Sasuke squeal out in a combination of agony and rapture. "Feel good?"

Moving his hand back up to his mouth, he spit gently in the palm digging back under the sheets to wrap around the erection. Slowly he moved his hand up and down the shaft hearing Sasuke try to hold back the moans that were threatening to leave his lips. His grip on the flesh was almost menacing, holding it too tightly making Sasuke's heart rate soar.

"That feels good," Sasuke answered, turning to look away from his brother's face biting at his lips as he swallowed hard. "Squeeze… m-me…"

Itachi complied applying more force as he ran up and down his brother's shaft watch his face turn a dark cherry red along Sasuke's cheeks. The pulsing of Sasuke's erection was harder than it ever had been before, the pain of being held to tightly making his hormones rage.

"I-Itachi!" Sasuke moaned, his body convulsing harder than it had been before, his body giving into the surrender. "More," he bucked his hips into his brother's hand, moaning loudly feeling Itachi kiss at his chest. "Yes…"

He was getting too much pleasure too fast. Itachi was sending him deeper and deeper into the chasm of ecstasy. Tongue brushing across his nipple, hand grasping his pulsing erection as it moved up and down. Heat roiled into his abdomen as he was drawn closer to his climax being forcefully pushed by Itachi.

"I-Itachi," Sasuke breathed barely audible. "F-fuck me…"

"In good time," Itachi smirked pushing the sheets down to fully inspect his brother's erection. "Feels good, doesn't it?" he licked the tip of his arousal taking the pre-cum into his mouth moaning at the taste.

Sasuke panted loudly as his chest tightened with every breath. "Yes… oh God Itachi… yes…!"

"You make it seem like I neglect you," Itachi breathed running his thumb along the tip hearing the howling growing louder. "Don't I satisfy you?"

"Itachi…" Sasuke gasped his toes curling up against the sheets wrinkling it. "Fuck me… please…" His length was encompassed by the heat of his brother's mouth, his tongue passionately brushing up against the pulsing flesh of his shaft. "Itachi…"

The heat swirled through his mind as his heart raced faster, beating harder than it ever had before. The skillful movements of Itachi's tongue up against his flesh brought him closer to the best orgasm that he thought that he could ever experience. Moans seeped from his lips as the rogue ninja's hand squeezed tighter up against the base of his erection sending responses to his pain receptors.

"Itachi…" he breathed.

"So you like it when I squeeze you?" Itachi asked as he backed away from Sasuke's pulsing skin. He stroked the flesh of Sasuke's inner thigh lovingly as he looked up at him.

Sasuke nodded. "I do…"

"What else you enjoy?" Itachi asked continuing to run his hand along Sasuke's inner thigh. "Did you enjoy bleeding?"

The young boy breathed harshly spreading his legs further. "I like bleeding… it feels so good…" rolling his hips forward he let out a loud moan. "I told you that I like it when you're rough with me. Itachi…"

"Bloodthirsty as always," Itachi breathed extending Sasuke's left leg fully grasping at his calf tightly. "It's all about you isn't it? You only care what you get out of this? What if told you I hate blood?"

"F-fuck you…" Sasuke hissed.

Itachi pressed his lips up against Sasuke's kneecap. "Your language is horrible…" he ran his tongue along the skin of his inner thigh.

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed. "Stop…" he watched the blood from his brother's mouth as it covered his thigh, his erection covered as well. The warmth of the blood of his one true hate on his flesh made him moan loudly. The more Itachi bled the faster Sasuke's heart raced. "You're bleeding on me…" he let out a louder moan.

Itachi looked into his eyes. "Sasuke."

Sasuke moved his hand to Itachi's chest feeling his heart pulse through his arm. "You're alive, brother. You're alive and I know that you're not going to leave me tonight." he took a sharp intake of breath as the silky warmth of Itachi's tongue ran along his ankle. "I-Itachi, enough playing."

"Sasuke," Itachi snickered. "Patience."

Moving a trail of kisses down Sasuke's left leg, Itachi looked at the blood soaked flesh that was crying for him, begging him to touch. The breaths that passed Sasuke's blood lacquered lips made Itachi want to take him right then and there, seeing how loud he could get him to scream. A voice in the back of his head told him that he had to go slow; this could be the last few moments where he was able to be with him. His life was a dangerous one, and he wanted to make sure that Sasuke didn't get involved.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed reaching to grasp Itachi's face pulling him into a deep kiss. The taste of blood filled both of their mouths as tongues clashed with one another. Sasuke breathed heavier moving his hands down to grasp his waist pulling him deeper into the kiss hearing his breathing speed up.

"Sasuke…" he breathed moving to stroke the hairs out of Sasuke's face fighting against the adhering sweat that was rolling down his flesh. "You're body is crying for me, isn't it? The look in your eyes… it reminds me of that night. You're traumatized by me. If you want it all you have to do is say it…" he wrapped his arms around the young boy's body as he took his lips again, his legs tightening around his waist.

Sasuke gulped as he felt his brother's hand move down to his erection stroking it lightly. "I-I want it. I want you inside of me…" he moved his hand to touch Itachi's moving it faster along his shaft. "S-squeeze me…"

Itachi tightened his hand around Sasuke's erection. "Then I'll give you what you want."

Sasuke breathed as he closed his eyes as he felt his brother's finger's move away going to his mouth. "Isn't your mouth bleeding?"

Itachi nodded. "Yeah."

His body shook as he closed his eyes. "So your blood's going to be… _inside me_?" he spread his legs wider. "This must be a dream…"

"Fantasizing about the day you'd be bathing in my blood?" Itachi asked removing blood covered fingers from his mouth drawing toward Sasuke.

Sasuke took in a sharp breath, the fingers moving closer to his entrance. The feeling of the warm liquid deep inside of his body as the extremities entered, it made his body tighten in pleasure. He had finally gotten his blood. "Itachi…" Sasuke breathed fighting the tears in his eyes. "I love you…"

As he chuckled Itachi's fingers came apart stretching Sasuke out, he heard Sasuke purr as he went in deeper jabbing at his prostate. "Feels good doesn't it?"

"Y-y-yes!" Sasuke breathed as he looked in between his legs watching the fingers go deeper inside of him. Feeling the two fingers twist around, his muscles clenching tightly, his body moved up to kiss Itachi on the lips drawing the older ninja's tongue out of his mouth fighting with him in an epic battle. The taste of blood filled his mouth more warm liquid spilling from his broken skin, it tasted so good up against his tongue sending more hormones through his body.

Gently pushing the young boy away Itachi removed his fingers hearing the moans of disapproval. Blood ran from his mouth as he looked down at him gently coughing, more crimson liquid falling onto Sasuke's face.

"Ribs again?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi shook his head. "I'm fine… I'm fine…"

Sasuke moved his hand to Itachi's bruised feeling it through the cloth of his shirt. He did that, he had to remember that, but in this moment, he had to put it all aside otherwise Itachi would get pissed. The more he thought about it the more he knew why Itachi didn't feel guilt for that night.

_I have to stop thinking… _he looked into Itachi's eyes. "I'll take your word for it, Itachi," he looked deeper into the dark irises; he looked worn out from his fight with Asuma, his skin still pale from the stress and the loss of blood. "But Itachi, you know that I don't want you hurt. If the wounds Asuma gave you kill you…"

Itachi smiled as he stroked the young boy's face. "You're talking too much," he moved down to kiss him again, only lightly with his lips closed. He unzipped his pants starting to stroke himself lightly looking straight into Sasuke's eyes watching them light up in rapture.

Sasuke let out a low moan as he watched his brother's eyes close in rapture. "I…" Itachi's breathing sped up as Sasuke tried to utter the words. "Itachi," he sat up looking at his brother's hardening length reaching a hand out to touch it. "I…" he moved his hand to touch Itachi's his older brother looking at him. "I want it… p-please."

They made deep eye contact for a few moments both of their hands stopping where they were. The room was completely silent except for the sound of their breathing accompanied by the beating of their hearts pulsing through their ears. Onyx looked deeper into onyx as they moved closer, their hands moving to grasp one another's, their noses resting against each other.

"You did say please," Itachi stated holding onto Sasuke's hands tighter feeling his left one start to bleed running down his arm. Ignoring that, he moved to kiss Sasuke on the lips hearing the young boy breathe heavily from the tongue passing through his lips.

More force was applied as the two of them fell down onto the pillows still kissing one another, the flesh from their arousals touching, both of them moaning loudly. Sasuke back away spreading his legs wider, his eyes watering violently, the height of his pleasure was close, it had to be now.

Itachi moved his fingers into his mouth again getting them wet moving them down to Sasuke's entrance pushing in slowly. Sasuke's eyes closed tightly letting out a series of high pitched moans, his muscles clenching tightly.

"I-Itachi…" Sasuke breathed closing his eyes even tighter.

"Shhh," Itachi breathed spreading his fingers loosening the muscles Sasuke's moans getting louder. He pushed his fingers in deeper as his ears were filled with more moans. As his brother's body shook, Itachi placed a hand on his chest pushing him in deeper to the pillows.

"Itachi, p-please," Sasuke breathed as he spread his legs as wide as they would go trying his hardest not to cum right on the spot. "Itachi… n-now…"

The fingertips hit at Sasuke's prostate sending more chills up and down his spine. This was different than the other times; it was deeper harder than the first few times, even the rape. There was something that told him that something had happened that day, there was something on Itachi's mind that was making him antsy, holding him tighter than he had before. The fingers were shaking deep inside of him brushing so passionately against his prostate.

"I-Itachi…" Sasuke breathed as he looked to the side biting his lip. "I can't take it anymore…" he wrapped his hand around his brother's wrist pulling the fingers out of his body. "No more teasing…"

The older brother smirked looking at the mess that he made of Sasuke; he was covered with blood from his lips to his ankles. Sweat covered his face his hair sticking messily. Saliva trailed from his lips to his collarbone. A warm blush was across his cheeks burning intensely.

Using his left hand he stroked his erection coating it with his own blood as lube. He held back the moans hearing Sasuke's loud panting overcome the noises in the room. His body couldn't take as much as Itachi's could; sex was still new to him.

Stroking himself harder he felt his breathing synchronize to the fast pace of Sasuke's. Could _he_ take any more of this teasing? His life was almost lost in the battle, if he hadn't gotten lucky in the end, Asuma would have destroyed him. The warm liquid ran down his pulsing skin covering it fully.

"I'm sorry about the lube," Itachi breathed looking down to see Sasuke's eyes locked on the crimson liquid. "It was all that I had…"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "B-blood?" he swallowed again reaching his hands to grasp onto Itachi's shoulders pulling him closer to his body. He pulled him closer feeling the blood drip from the tip onto his flesh. "I want your blood inside me…"

With a small amount of force, Sasuke pushed Itachi's erection into his body, moaning as he was filled up, the muscles tightening around the hard flesh. They rested against each other's bodies, their breath combining passionately.

"Are you alright?" Itachi asked, looking into Sasuke's eyes moving one of his arms to push away the stray hairs that covered the young boy's face. "Does it hurt?"

"You're not that small," Sasuke panted as he dug his fingernails into Itachi's back. "It takes a while to adjust to you, and when that lube dries…"

Itachi kissed at his lips. "If it hurts, I'll stop."

"I like it when you're rough with me," Sasuke breathed tightening his legs around Itachi's body his breath heavy, his words connecting into one another slurring together. He relished in the feeling of body heat, the feeling of the blood dripping onto him. Every pulse that ran through his body from Itachi's erection drove him closer to his peak.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed kissing at him lightly as he moved to kiss at his jaw line and then at his neck the young boy's fingernails running down his back as he cried out louder. "Are you ready?"

Sasuke felt his brother's tongue up against his Adam's apple, shivers running down his spine he swallowed against the pressure. "I-I'm ready, Itachi… stop treating me like a virgin…"

The first thrust was pushed into him sending him into a swirl of rapture. The blood that was falling out of his body onto the sheets, staining his inner thighs causing his breath to speed at dangerous heights making it difficult for him to process. He felt his heart beat faster his fingers digging in deeper.

"Itachi," he panted biting at his lips rolling his hips into every single thrust, hitting deep within his body his toes curling tightly. "Harder…!"

He tried his hardest to keep up, meeting every thrust that Itachi administered. In the older ninja's eyes he could see the passion that was seeping through. Even though Sasuke would never say to him, despite all of the pain and the blood, Itachi was making love to him. The slow movements accented every pulse of his erection; his lips slowly touching Sasuke's in gentle kisses weren't proving the hypothesis wrong. Something happened in the Hokage's office.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed heavily starting to sob in pleasure. He kissed Itachi's lips fully slipping his tongue through to lick at his brother's.

"Sasuke," Itachi moaned pulling Sasuke up to sit in his lap, a hand pressed gently against the small of the twelve-year-old's back. Their eyes locked again as more thrusts were put into Sasuke's body, the young boy's arms wrapping around Itachi's shoulders to keep his balance.

"God…" Sasuke purred his muscles clenching as he moved his hand in between them to stroke his erection. He bucked into his own hand trying to keep up with Itachi's fast pace not wanting to lose it too soon. "Yes…"

In the height of his pleasure he felt his hand being replaced with that of his brother. The pressure that he put in as he ran up and down the pulsing shaft was almost painful as if it was punishing him. His hand wrung around him, squeezing him tightly as he took his lips into a passionate kiss.

"Itachi," Sasuke gasped biting at Itachi's neck holding onto him tighter. He could feel his prostate bruising from the assault; Itachi was harder on him now than he ever had been before.

"You're quite the masochist," Itachi snickered squeezing Sasuke's erection as hard as he could, hearing the young boy scream out in pain.

"Well, you're quite the sadist," Sasuke breathed biting at the cloth of Itachi's turtleneck pulling it with his teeth.

He moved Sasuke's head back licking along the young boy's pulse point. He bit lightly hearing Sasuke's voice quiver at the pressure of the hard bones. "You like that?"

"D-damn it," Sasuke cursed before feeling the teeth dig into his neck crying out as he felt the blood roll into his brother's mouth. He purred running a hand through the long black hairs of Itachi's ponytail. He heard the sound of his brother swallowing his blood, sucking harder at the wound. "Yes…" he felt the suction stop as Itachi backed away from the flesh.

Itachi moved to take his lips pushing him down to the pillows, moving forcefully more blood spilling out of their torn flesh. The young boy's mind was moving through a blurry chasm of pleasure and blood loss his breathing becoming rapid. It hurt as he moved, the blood rolling down his lips and neck, it made the strangled flesh of his arousal pulse harder.

"I-I-Itachi!" Sasuke screamed loudly as he came his eyes closing. The warmth of his orgasm hit the black turtleneck that Itachi was wearing as well as his own bare stomach. He tried to catch his breath as he looked into Itachi's eyes. "More…" he kissed at Itachi's lips still moving to the pace of Itachi's thrusts. "Harder…"

Their tongues danced outside of their mouths as Itachi moved in as deep as he could into Sasuke's body feeling his whole body convulse violently. His hands wrapped around Itachi's forearms squeezing them tightly the blood spilling rapidly out of the right arm down the porcelain flesh.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed taking Sasuke's lips as he hit his peak the warmth running into the young boy's body both of them moaning simultaneously. The kiss continued even after the highlight of Itachi's orgasm stopped, but it died down to a small series of kisses their breath heavily as water rolled down their cheeks.

"That was wonderful," Sasuke breathed as he stroked Itachi's face.

Itachi smirked, pulling out of Sasuke's body looking down at the sweat and blood covered boy. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke swallowed hard as he tried to catch his breath as he felt Itachi rest next to him wrapping an overprotective arm around his shoulders pulling him closer to his chest. He kissed at Itachi's bloody arm. "I'm glad you're alive," he cuddled closer. "I love you."

Itachi tightened his hold. "I love you too," he kissed him on the forehead hearing Sasuke breath joyfully. "I'm not going to leave you." Taking hold of Sasuke's hand, he placed it over his chest so that he could feel the beating of his heart. "I promise…" he heard the young ninja's breath slow down as he fell asleep. "I promise…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry to all of the people that think I'm taking Itachi's side throughout this, but this is the beginning when everything is supposed to be easier for him. The man in the robe (you have to guess who it is) is going to be the one who really is a pain in Itachi's ass. As for the lemon, I told you it was dirty! So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think I should stop hurting jounin? I love honesty!

Next chapter a miracle happens and Sasuke will finally have a chance to ask the questions that have been bothering him for a while.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or anything that has to do with it.

**Warnings:** This chapter contains references to incest, coarse language, refernces to violence, this chapter is also OOC and the canon is really getting roasted. There are also quite a few errors in this. This chapter is significanlty shorter than the last one, but still is pretty long.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, AsuKure, some NaruSaku, slight SasuNaru, some KakaIta, hints of GaiKaka, references to SasuSaku and SasuIno, a pinch of ShikaIno.

* * *

Sasuke awoke on his bed that was fully made, fully dressed. The horrible aura from last night and the argument that he and Itachi had was gone. He looked around to see any traces of it all being a dream but seeing the blood on the floor; he knew it was all real. His brother did go after the Hokage, but he came back to him. 

"You're awake," Itachi breathed happily as he looked at Sasuke who was resting on the bed.

Sasuke looked at the figure entering the room as the door slid closed. "Itachi? Is that you?" he let out a low moan. "What time is it?"

Itachi moved to the side of his bed sitting on the mattress. "It's ten, don't worry I didn't let you sleep in that much. But after what happened last night, I'm just glad you're alright," he closed his eyes and forced a smile as he looked straight at him. "I was worried about you."

Sasuke looked at his brother's hand and arm noticing the bandages wrapped around them. It was real; this wasn't a fantasy that was made up. Itachi had to be in pain, his sharingan wasn't active, his eyes returning to the peaceful black color that he remembered so clearly. What really got him the most was the lost look deep within, the dark circles underneath; his brother had experienced another sleepless night.

"Itachi," Sasuke started as he took his brother's left hand holding it tightly. "Are _you _alright?"

"Don't worry about me," Itachi answered as he looked toward the door. "I'll be fine. What concerns me the most in your health, are you going to be alright? You were coughing in your sleep last night."

"I have a cold," Sasuke answered as he looked into his brother's eyes. "Why do you care so much? You never cared before…"

Itachi looked away. "Maybe I've changed."

"People like you don't change," Sasuke scoffed. "Once apathetic, always apathetic, you can't change your character. You can say all that you want, but you're still the same. You broke my heart; you can't take that back again. You use me, you abuse me, you make me worry, what do you expect me to do?"

Itachi sighed. "I'm going to take that as an 'I love you'," he smiled this time for real his true colors showing. "You're just upset about how it ended last night," he ran his hand up against the dark spots on Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke looked into his brother's eyes. _There's something wrong with him. I've never seen him let this. What happened in that damn office? What did Konoha do to him? He's not the same as before, he's becoming a new person. I'm not sure I understand, _he touched his brother's hand. "Itachi, what happened to you? Why are you being so nice?"

Itachi sighed again. "Suspicious?" he reached down as he pulled out a red apple. "What happened to me isn't important to you. What is important is what you can do to make all of the pain go away."

Sasuke breathed heavily as he winced. "Itachi," his voice was shaking. "What happened between you and Kakashi? In the hospital, you looked at him with so much hatred. What did he do to you?"

"Sasuke," he sighed looking down at the apple. "There's nothing that you need to know about that. It was four years ago, the memory is faint. I can tell you one thing, I will never forgive him."

The young boy looked at the apple. "Bullshit…"

Itachi smiled. "You think that you have the right to know what happened in my past. You should know what happened when I was young, you saw the nights where I would just sit staring out of the window."

"You said that you were thinking," Sasuke answered, holding Itachi's hand tighter. "Were you lying to me as you hugged me saying everything was going to be alright? All of this time, I thought that you chose to be that way, but yet, you were pushed too hard."

"Why are we talking about this?" Itachi asked as he pulled out a kunai. "This is depressing; you don't want to talk about me. We need to help you get better," he started to peel the apple that was in his hand. "I know that I've hurt you, Sasuke, but through it all you've only gotten stronger. I think it's time that I started to train you."

Sasuke's eyes lit up. "You're going to teach me your techniques."

"The ones I can, you'll never harness the power of the mangekyou sharingan with training alone. It's dangerous, the symptoms of the manifestation, they could kill you," the peel started falling to the ground. "There's a high chance that the person who's unlocking it might not survive the transition."

"You survived," Sasuke answered looking into his brother's sable eyes.

"I was strong enough to handle it," Itachi continued. "The thing that really hurts is having blood seep from every part of your body, mostly in the eyes. You felt that though. Doesn't it hurt?"

Sasuke looked at the distant look in Itachi's eyes; it had been there ever since they started talking about Kakashi. He never heard any words about Kakashi before the day that he met him at the academy. Itachi never mentioned anyone by that name. Judging by the look in Itachi's eyes, the jounin had hurt him deeply doing something that could never be forgiven. But what?

"I hope you like apples," Itachi smiled.

"Don't people usually feed sick people soup?" Sasuke asked raising an eyebrow.

"Soup?" Itachi asked. "Sasuke, if you're going to be my student you need to start eating right. You need foods that are doing to build up energy yet not make you gain excessive weight. Soup is just fat," he cut a piece of apple off handing it to the young ninja. "There you go…"

Sasuke looked confused at the piece of apple. "How do I know you're not trying to kill me?"

"Why would I kill you?" Itachi asked. "What's that going to do for me? If I wanted to kill you I would have done it four years ago."

Sasuke looked into his brother's eyes. "You're right; killing me isn't your style. I know what is though," he took a breath. "How do I know you didn't put an aphrodisiac into it you pervert?"

Itachi shook his head. "Sasuke…"

"You eat it," Sasuke urged. "I want to see what happens."

The older ninja shrugged as he brought the piece of apple to his lips taking it into his mouth. He chewed at it slowly acting as if it was a chore to eat looking over at Sasuke with calm eyes.

"You can chew it all you want," Sasuke answered. "I'm not going to eat the apples until I see what they do to you." he looked over at Itachi watching him chew more. "Are you counting to a special number or something? It's not that hard, you chew it a few times and then you swallow. You don't need to count."

Itachi swallowed the apple slowly. "And that's why you're going to choke one of these days."

Sasuke looked at his brother sitting up. "Well? Is it safe?" he continued to stare at him. "Are you going to die?"

"As soon as I put it in my mouth you should have known it was alright. If I poisoned the apple do you think that I would have done that?" he asked moving to cut off another piece. "Now you're going to eat a piece."

Sasuke watched as he cut off another piece. "You didn't sleep last night, did you, Itachi? You're not eating either, what happened to you? I worry about you sometimes, when I was young you said you made yourself the ideal older brother for me, you got something wrong. First, you didn't make that persona up because I can see it coming back now, and two I always wanted a brother who wouldn't make me worry. I thought you were going to die yesterday, when you came home bloody…"

Itachi sighed. "You don't have to worry."

"Don't have to worry my ass!" Sasuke continued. "This is the worst I've ever seen you do. You're getting your ass kicked by people I know you can take out with a blink of your eye and now look at you, you're sitting here starved and sleep deprived."

Itachi pushed a piece of apple through Sasuke's lips. "It's my body, Sasuke. If I want to destroy it, then let me. Don't get worked up over it, I'm going to be alright. I promise."

Sasuke chewed the apple as he looked up at his brother a smile on his face as he looked down at him. The sweet juices from the apple filled his mouth, the pressure from his brother's fingers on his lips growing stronger. He closed his eyes as he swallowed the contents in his mouth feeling the fingers leave.

"You don't hate apples do you?" Itachi asked with another forced smile.

_Itachi, _Sasuke looked into his brother's eyes. _I don't want to see you in pain. The more you smile, the more I can see through you. You're going through more than you deserve. I love you, Itachi and the last thing that I was is to see you in pain. _He touched Itachi's hand. "I don't want to see you like this…"

"S-Sasuke," Itachi breathed moving to kiss him on the lips placing the apple on the other side of the mattress holding onto him tighter moaning at the contact. "I'm fine…"

"No you aren't," Sasuke argued. "You can lie all you want, you're never going to be alright. I don't want to lose you in this. I need you more now than ever, you can't come back and then leave me. I told you that I can't take it."

Itachi's eyes filled with a trace of an emotion that made Sasuke gasp; through the dark irises he could see a small trace of guilt. It was the same caliber of Naruto's but it more subtle. Through his words of saying he felt no guilt; he had broken his own promise.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed. "Don't say such things…"

"Why?" Sasuke asked. "Because they hurt you? Itachi, I know for a fact that you do feel sorry for what you did. I know you can say it and not mean it, but I think you mean it," he stroked Itachi's face. "You can't deny it anymore."

Itachi shook his head. "I don't feel guilt… I'm not that weak," he took the apple and hand and sat back up his eyes getting lost in the act of peeling. "The more apples you eat the sooner you'll get better."

Sasuke felt another piece of apple pass his lips as he looked at his brother's smile, it was transparent, the tears being seen right through it. The second that Kakashi's name was mentioned, Itachi's eyes broke, his whole being transforming into someone different. It provoked the question in Sasuke's mind: what did Kakashi do to his brother?

-----

Ino's cries filled the waiting room as Team 10 sat in a small circle. She rested up against Chouji, burying her face in his shoulder fisting the front of his shirt. The news had just come to her only a few moments ago when she had gotten the call. As soon as the doctors had told her what had happened, she broke down and sobbed.

"We should have been there," Ino cried as she hit her fist up against Chouji's chest. "Why did he have to go after him? Why?" her voice became shrill as she buried her face deeper. "Asuma… why?"

Hearing her cries, Shikamaru bowed his head trying to hold back the tears that were trying to pour down his cheeks. Asuma's words pierced through his heart as he remembered the moment. He handed him the pack of cigarettes in case the journey got to hard. Asuma had told him that he was going to go after him; he was just too stupid to stop it before it happened.

"_You're going to make it; you're going to go on with Ino and Chouji. Even if I do get hurt, I want you to stay strong."_

"Asuma!" Ino sobbed as Shikamaru closed his eyes trying to give in to the feelings of his heartache. Asuma promised him that he was going to come back to him. He believed him like an idiot, now he was in a hospital room barely alive.

"Itachi," Shikamaru cursed as he curled his hands into fists looking over at Chouji watching him stroke Ino's back. "Is she going to be alright, Chouji?"

Chouji nodded as he looked at Shikamaru. "She just feels as though we should have been there for him, and maybe we should, maybe we should have…" tears formed in his eyes. "If I wasn't so weak if I was able to fight for him, I would have."

"You're not weak," Shikamaru answered. "Don't ever say that," he looked at Ino sobbing and then at the guilty look in Chouji's eyes, their faces morphing into someone else. They were just like Naruto and Sakura when they first found out about their sensei. Would the same thing happen to them as Team 7? Would they break as much as Naruto did? Would they shut the door on everyone?

Shikamaru sighed. _It wasn't my fault, whatever happens happens, I can't change that no matter how much I wish I could. Asuma told me that I have to stay strong; he wouldn't want me to break. _The tears in his eyes never fell as he looked at his teammates who were crying holding each other. _You were right about Itachi… you were right._

"Do you need anything, Ino?" Shikamaru asked. "Do you want me to call someone? You need anymore help?"

She nodded. "Yes… I do need someone else," he blue eyes were plagued with tears. "I want you to call Sakura for me. I want to talk to her about this; I need her to tell me how she dealt with the pain."

Shikamaru nodded as he stood up and walked out of the room, the second that he was out of their sight he let a tear fall. _Asuma, why did you do this to me? I told you that you wouldn't be able to do it. I know you lost your dignity, but you're almost dead right now. Itachi was ruthless; there was no way that you were going to win. _He moved to the phone thinking of whose fault this was. "Gai…"

It had to be Gai, he was the one who pushed him to it, the one who had depleted all of the dignity Asuma had left. The feud between the two of them ended tragically, neither of their plans were in action. Asuma wanted no one to get hurt, if the Hokage had listened in the first place, Asuma would have been spared. Gai's plan on the other hand was totally shot down the second that Itachi's sword pierced Asuma's skin. If the first plan never happened, the tears wouldn't fall so fiercely.

The phone was right next to him as he slipped some coins into the slot then dialing the number. "Pick up…"

-----

"I'm going to be fine," Naruto answered walking away from Sakura. "Damn, all you do it bug me. If I want to hurt myself then it's none of your business. It's my body, my life, if I want to destroy it then let me!" he rummaged through his pockets looking for the keys to his apartment. "You can go home now."

She looked at the ground. "I'm worried about you…"

"What about Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "I haven't seen him since he went off with Shikamaru, for all you know he could be dead. Itachi probably found him and finished the job and killed him. We were weak once again."

Sakura grabbed his wrist as she pulled him back. "Come on, Naruto. Just stay out a little longer," she looked in his eyes holding his wrist tighter. "I don't want you to do something reckless because of Sasuke. You said that you didn't want to hurt me anymore. If you go in there and you hurt yourself, it would kill me."

Naruto smiled faintly as he looked into her eyes. "Sakura… I promise… that if I hurt myself… I won't make you watch," he moved closer to her looking deeper into her green eyes. "I promise…" he kissed her lightly on the lips as he opened the door behind him. "Now I have to go in."

"Not alone," she answered as she recovered from the lip contact. "I'm not letting you go in there all by yourself."

He smiled. "Then come on in," he moved out of her way as she walked through the door. "Don't mind the mess; I haven't cleaned up in a while. I wasn't expecting anyone to come over."

She looked back at him. "It's not that bad," she moved to the kitchen looking around. "It looks cozy," she moved to the fridge opening it seeing it devoid of all contents. "Haven't done any shopping I see."

"No," he answered, walking toward his room to listen to his messages. "You can come in here if you want."

She walked toward the room looking at the trail of blood that led from his door to the bedroom staining the rug as if they were concentrated into teardrops. Whatever Sasuke had tried to do to him that night was enough to make the whole apartment a bloody mess.

"Naruto?" she asked looking at the blood stains. "What happened? Why is there blood everywhere?"

The boy looked up at her. "Sasuke had a headache," he looked over at her patting the bed. "You can sit down if you want. I'm not going to try anything." He moved over to allow her to come closer to him. _She belongs to Sasuke now… but I know that he doesn't love her in that way. The way he's been acting lately, I think he's given up on us._

She sat next to him on the bed. "Why are you so upset?"

"Upset?" he asked.

Sakura rested her head up against his shoulder. "Don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about. You've been acting like a real jerk lately. I called you every night since the first time you showed the signs and you never pick up."

"I don't think you should get involved," Naruto answered touching his abdomen. "There's something going on here, a fight for me. I know that's why Itachi's here, the fox," his hand curled into a fist over the cloth. "This damn fox."

Sakura stroked his back. "You'll be fine…"

"Easy for you to say," Naruto sighed. "Itachi never had interest in you."

"_Our little secret." _

Sakura remembered when she first came face to face with Itachi, the way that he acted around her. He wasn't the type of criminal to take out people who didn't attack first. She was able to have a pleasant conversation with him. There were times in their conversation that made her think that Itachi might have been more understanding than Sasuke. Itachi wasn't the monster that Sasuke made him out to be.

"I don't know what it's like, but Itachi might not want you," Sakura answered. "Maybe he wants…"

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked standing up. "Sasuke this, Sasuke that, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke! What does everyone see in him anyway?" he looked out the window. "Sasuke means something to Itachi, why else is he alive…?"

Sakura stood up too. "You have to stop thinking about Sasuke that way. Don't you think that he's in pain as well, or did you forget about what happened to him by the river," a tear fell from her eye. "Because we were reckless, we weren't there for him. His mind has gone through so much as he tried to make sense of the events."

Naruto scoffed. "For all you know, Sasuke enjoyed that. He could be playing us right now, Sakura."

She opened her mouth to speak as the phone rang. "Naruto… it's your phone."

"Let it ring," Naruto urged. "It's probably just Sasuke," the phone rang again. "That bastard always calls me."

Sakura sighed as the machine turned on. "You have to talk to him eventually; Sasuke isn't going to go away just because you want him to. You're going to have to face him!"

Naruto was silent as the message started. "Hey Naruto, this is Shikamaru, I was wondering if you knew where Sakura was, I have message for her. It's Ino, she's pretty upset. We're in a hospital, Naruto; our sensei was stabbed by Itachi Uchiha yesterday. If you could find Sakura and tell he that would be wonderful. Bye, and don't hurt yourself, having two crying women is troublesome."

Sakura stared at the answering machine as she fell to her knees. Ino was taking this hard; she knew how much her sensei meant to her. Asuma was the reason why she was trying so hard, he was like a second father to her. Now he was gone stabbed by the man that Sakura had healed. As she thought about Ino crying in the hospital waiting room tears fell down her cheeks.

"Ino," she breathed, burying her face in her hands. Is this how it felt to know that your best friend was in pain and there was nothing for you to do? The feeling of knowing that you should be there for someone, but you can't bring yourself to, this was the feeling that Sasuke and Naruto had for one another. She wasn't going to be like them, she wasn't going to turn her back on Ino.

"I'm going to the hospital," she looked over at Naruto watching his blue eyes well up in tears. "Are you alright?" she moved closer to him. "Naruto?"

He looked over at her as he tried to hold back the tears. "He's gone too far," he sniffled. "Itachi's gone too far now. I can't let all of this continue to happen because of me, Sakura. If I hand myself over…"

"No," Sakura answered. "Don't talk like that, you don't mean what you're saying. If you do that all that Sasuke is working so hard for would be a waste. Losing his virginity would be in vain."

"Why is he hurting Sasuke if he wants me?" Naruto asked scoffing.

Sakura could see what he was doing. "You're still feeling guilty about it?"

"How can I not," Naruto answered his tears falling to the ground. "I hear him scream every night. I replay that night every single day in my mind, if I walked him home that night and said that we shouldn't meet up with him… he'd be the same Sasuke. He wouldn't be forcing smiles while on the inside he hates himself. I know that he feels used, but he won't talk to me about his true feelings."

Sakura looked into his eyes deeper still. "Naruto, you can't beat yourself up."

"Yes I can," Naruto answered. "You never paid attention to me before this; you're a sick sadist, Sakura. You go for people who are in pain so you can pretend that you care. You don't care about me and you don't care about Sasuke. You only care about yourself."

"Naruto," she started. "What do you mean?"

"When I was happy I was annoying! Now that you can help me with my problems is the only reason why you come to me. You're obsessed with suicidal people so you can look like a savior in their eyes," he shook his head. "Tell me, now that Sasuke's smiling, when's the last time you talked to him?"

Sakura looked away. "Naruto, you told me once, that you didn't go back on your word, you said that you wouldn't let his loss be in vain. You made a promise to him that said that you wouldn't let him life a horrid life. You said you'd be there for him. While he's in the village in pain, you're here; you're avoiding him just like you did when he was in the hospital. It took you a week to muster up the confidence to save him. Is it going to take another week?"

Naruto closed his eyes; all of the words she said were true. They made promises to one another, not only did he make promises to Sasuke, but Sasuke made promises to him as well. Sasuke was living up to his promise, he wasn't dying on him.

"_Don't die… promise me that you're going to come out of this all alive. If you think about dying before I do… if you even think about it, I'll… I'll hate you more than I already do you bastard."_

He remembered the smirk on Sasuke's face as they made that promise; Naruto's presence was exactly what he needed that day. The way that he held his hand as he tried to suppress the tears, the way he confided in him, Naruto was going to let all of that go.

"_I swear that I won't let anyone hurt you."_

Naruto closed his eyes tighter as he thought about the tight hug after that, seeing the smile on Sasuke's lips afterward. He was turning his back on his best friend when he needed him the most. He was being selfish; he wasn't going to let Sasuke do this on his own. He didn't go back on his word; it was his way of ninja.

"I can take you to the hospital," Naruto answered looking at her. _I can't keep running away from my problems. If I want to save Sasuke then I'm going to have to stand up to anything. If I can't handle this amount of emotion, how am I going to emotionally handle Itachi when he comes for me?_

He walked to the door hearing her start to follow. "What made you change your mind, Naruto?"

Looking back at her a smile graced his lips. "Sasuke…"

"What about Sasuke?" she asked.

Naruto stayed silent for a second, remembering the way that Sasuke had been treating him these past few days. Sasuke cared now; he cared while Naruto turned his back on everyone and everything that he loved. Kakashi was right; Sasuke was never going to be the same again, but unlike the way that he thought the boy had opened his heart to things that he never felt and although the darkness was always going to be a part of him, he was starting to break free. He was so alive.

"He's alive…" Naruto answered as he opened the door to the outside the sun shining in his eyes, blinding him. _I wanted to have faith in you, Sasuke, you didn't let me down. You really are perfect; maybe through all of this, life is trying to prove to me that you are better. _He shielded his eyes from the light. _You are better than me._

-----

Shikamaru looked over at Ino as he twiddled his thumbs. They had already spent hours on Asuma; they had to know whether he was going to live or not. Ino's cries only made his heart wrench more, when was Sakura going to arrive?

_Come on, Naruto, tell me you called her, _Shikamaru begged himself as he closed his eyes tightly. He wasn't going to stay strong for much longer. How was he supposed to when he didn't even know if Asuma was dead? Taking charge of the team would be like replacing him, something he could never do.

Asuma was going to be fine; he had to keep telling himself that. He had to stay as strong as Team 7 when they lost Kakashi. He couldn't break as easily as his mind wanted him to. The talks that he had with Sasuke told him one thing, strength lies deep within, an attribute that the Uchiha demonstrated well. Sasuke was stronger than he thought he was.

"Shikamaru?" Chouji asked, looking over at him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Shikamaru answered, glancing over at his best friend. "I'll be better when they tell me the news."

Ino looked over at him. "How can you be so calm about this, Shika? Our sensei is in there dying and all you can do is say that you're ready for the news of our sensei's death? Out of all the inconsiderate things I've ever heard you say or do, this is on the top of the list. This is low even for you."

Shikamaru looked over at her. "I can't get worked up over something like this. I have to stay strong for him, he told me that the last time that we talked. If anything were to happen to him, I was going to have to take over the team. I'm supposed to take charge of all of us until we can be put under someone else's control."

"Asuma told you to do that?" Ino asked looking straight at him. "Are you nuts? Do you think you can do it? Shikamaru, we aren't a team anymore, we aren't ninja. We're like Team 7, we're out of work and we're never going to progress. Itachi is halting the process of getting genin into higher ranks. First Kakashi, then Asuma, who next? Kurenai? Gai?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Itachi doesn't care enough about the village to halt the progression of ninja through the ranks. All he wants is to fulfill his purpose. I think his purpose has to do with the first move he made, he raped Sasuke. He wants him."

Footsteps approached them. "Ino!" they turned to see Sakura with Naruto by her side. "Ino, are you alright?"

Ino looked over to see her old best friend in the doorway. "You came?"

Sakura nodded. "I did."

Standing up and walking toward her she looked deep into Sakura's eyes trying to find the answers to all of her questions. She couldn't find them. There was a reason that drove Sakura to come here that Ino would never understand.

"Why?" Ino asked, her voice shaking. "Why, Sakura? After all of these years of hatred for one another, you still came to me."

Sakura closed her eyes. "Because… you were there for me when I needed you, and all of this time I never realized how much I was hurting you. Our rivalry made us lose our mind and we became worse off because of it."

"_It's not a little pain; it's a deep searing pain that cuts like a knife right through the heart."_

"Sakura…" Ino breathed. "I…"

Sakura fought the tears in her eyes. "You don't need to say anything," she moved to take Ino into a hug. "I forgive you… I'm sorry too."

The blond girl rested her head on Sakura's shoulder. "All of the quarrelling, the arguments, the stupid fights, you looked past all of those all of these years. I never knew that you could do that, there were times where I knew I could be a real pain in the ass."

"I'll say," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"But it's obvious who Sasuke chose," Ino answered. "I know who he wants now."

"As do I," Sakura agreed looking back at Naruto. _He wants you, Naruto. Only you can save him now. The way that he looks at you these days, it tells me that he wants you more than he's ever wanted anything._

Naruto watched the two of them hug as he clutched tightly at his abdomen. All he could think of was Sasuke. He was all that was on his mind these days. The way that he sobbed as he held him the night where Naruto's life almost ended, the way that his lips moved up against his as he kissed him, all of it ran through his head. Sasuke was different then before, he was starting to open his eyes to see that his dream isn't so important. He had taken the time to make sure that Naruto was going to be alright during all of this.

_Sasuke, _he thought as he looked around remembering the way he felt when it was him Sasuke in a hospital room time working against him. He shed so many tears during that time period, vomited almost every night as he cried himself to sleep. He still cried himself to sleep almost every night.

"Are you alright?" Chouji asked looking over at Naruto.

Naruto nodded shakily as he walked toward the door. "I'll be right back. I need to be alone for a while."

"Naruto…" Sakura started still hugging Ino.

"Don't worry, Sakura," he smiled looking back at her. "I'm going to be alright. I'll come back… I promise."

"Wait," Sakura answered backing away from Ino running up to him. The second that she was right in front of him she placed a light kiss on his cheek for everyone to see. "Come back okay, I don't want to see you hurting yourself."

He smiled as he lightly touched his cheek. "I promise, Sakura." he walked away again stopping for a split second. "Thank you…"

She watched him walk away closing her eyes. _"When I look at Naruto I know that I could never be with someone like that. He's just so free-spirited and full of life. I know that he's going to break, there's no stopping him now, and even though it pains me I know that he's not strong enough to take all of this pain. He carries the nine tailed fox in his body."_

"Come back…" she whispered. _Don't make a big deal out of this; he's probably just going to the bathroom. He'll be back. _She walked back toward Ino with a smile on her face. _He knows what will happen to Sasuke if he hurts himself. Sasuke won't be able to forgive himself. _

Hoping for the best, she embraced her best friend again, it was good to have Ino back. She missed her after all of this time of being so far apart. Now she could finally feel the happiness that she always wanted. It was only the beginning for her.

_It's good to have you back, _she hugged Ino tighter. Everything was going to be alright.

-----

Kurenai was in the corner of Kakashi's hospital room, her eyes watering dramatically. "You're wrong," she whimpered looking up at Gai. "You're wrong about what happened."

Gai sighed as he took a step forward. "Kurenai," he started as he looked at her. "You've been at the hospital all day and you haven't heard? You didn't know what happened to Asuma?"

She shook her head. "You're lying about all of this. You're lying…"

Gai closed his eyes shaking his head. "He went down for this village; he halted the attack that Itachi had thrust upon all of us. In the process he was critically injured and needed attention as soon as possible," he took a breath. "And in the outcome, we're not allowed to go after Itachi unless we want to be banished from the village."

Kurenai buried her face in her hands as she continued to cry. How could this happen? Asuma had promised that he was going to come back in one piece and she believed him like an idiot. Now he was in a hospital room fighting for his life.

"_Gai's right, I must be trying to find a way out because I couldn't save Kakashi. I let Itachi go; it's only fair that Gai takes over right. I don't want anyone to get hurt, so I'm not going to stand by him. Even if I am a traitor, I don't want to lose this village."_

Her eyes opened as she looked up at him all of the anger that she could muster pulsing dangerously through her body. "You!" she stood up looking into Gai's eyes. "This is your fault," her voice was breaking as she started to cry. "You made him do it! You made him go into that damn office! If you had never said anything about him not being able to beat Itachi…"

"My fault?" Gai asked as he looked at her. "You think this is my fault? Why can't he do anything wrong? You and this village think he's so perfect don't you? Asuma can't do anything wrong? When he fucks up, everyone forgives him, but when I screw up, everyone's on my ass."

"What about Kakashi? He was the one who started all of this," Kurenai continued.

Gai's eyes filled with anger. "You leave Kakashi out of this, it wasn't his fault what happened to him, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he took a deep breath. "Why do you care so much about Asuma anyway? What did he ever do for you?"

"Just say it," Kurenai spat. "Tell me you hate him!"

Gai looked into her eyes. "Kurenai."

"Tell me!" Kurenai answered sobbing louder. "Through all of this you were the one who took his dignity; you were the one who was trying to make it all seem like Asuma's fault. The day when you got to the Hokage's office first, you laughed. You were so proud that you had shot down his plan."

"His plan went into action anyway," Gai scoffed.

Kurenai's red eyes narrowed as more tears fell. "Say you hate him. Just say it…"

Gai looked into her eyes. "No, because really Kurenai, I don't hate him. Sure, I was mad at him, I thought that he was taking the wrong route with many of our plans, but I never hated him. He had a solid plan, but after what happened to Kakashi…"

Kurenai looked over at Kakashi's body. "What would Kakashi have done? I wish… I wish that he was still here…"

Gai looked over at the EKG. "Why? Everything would have been the same. I always felt that we should go after Itachi, since the day that I heard that I heard what he did to Sasuke. I didn't think he should be pardoned."

Kurenai looked over at Gai. "You're an asshole, do you know that? You made Asuma wonder what he would feel like if it were Shikamaru. Well what if it was Lee, Gai? How would you react?"

"How would you react if it were Kiba?" Gai asked back.

"I would do what Asuma did; I would let the man do what he wants so he could just leave us all alone. He said he wasn't going to hurt anyone. Your stupid plan is what forced Asuma to go in there," she moved closer to Gai, curling her hands into fists. "No more bullshit, tell me how you really feel about all of this?"

Gai's voice was quiet. "You want to know how I feel? I feel that Itachi shouldn't be out there to abuse that kid? He raped him, Kurenai; he has been mauling that kid for years now, wrenching his heart. Sasuke wants to kill him for a reason, but with this new decree he can't even do that, he's going to be pissed at us."

"He should be happy," Kurenai answered. "Do you think it would make Sasuke feel better if someone else fought his battle?"

"He's never going to beat Itachi," Gai responded. "He's never going to be able to hold a candle to him now that Kakashi's gone. Itachi is going to beat Sasuke on every single level, the way that he's always been beating him."

As Kurenai tried to speak she looked over at Kakashi, her attention being brought to a rustling sound. As she looked harder she saw the source. Through all of the conversation with Gai she had not noticed that Kakashi's right index finger was moving. That was impossible; the doctors said that he was so deep in a coma that he wasn't even going to be able to process brain waves.

"Gai," Kurenai stated as she moved to Kakashi's side hearing him breathe heavier. "Gai! It's Kakashi, he's…"

Gai's eyes moved to look over at his fallen rival. "Kakashi?" he looked at the moving finger. "Oh my God, he's waking up, he's finally starting to break the hold that Itachi had on him."

"That's impossible, the psychological damage should have been too great for him, he should have suffered a complete mental collapse," Kurenai continued. "Tsukuyomi is the most powerful genjutsu that I've ever heard of."

"Kakashi's different than most of the mangekyou sharingan's opponents," Gai smiled. "That's why he's the best around. He's going to wake up Kurenai, maybe we aren't screwed after all." He stood up. "I'll get a doctor."

Kurenai stayed by his side as she watched Gai leave her alone. Kakashi was starting to come to, his whole hand moving now. It wasn't over yet, there was no way that Itachi could have taken into account that Kakashi was going to come out of his coma in less than a month.

"Come on, Kakashi," she stated. "You can do it, just a little more," she could hear his breathing become more stable, more life like as he uttered one word almost silently.

"Sasuke…" his hand moved from his side a few inches to the right. He was coming out slowly but surely, it would only be a little while now.

"Kakashi," Kurenai stated as she grasped his hand. "Only you can fix the mess that Gai made. Restore Asuma's dignity… I'm counting on you…"

-----

Naruto started walking back the waiting room, taking his own sweet time. The sooner he got there the sooner Sakura would pay attention to him again. It had been more than a month since the day when Sasuke lost everything. The days had passed by slowly making it seem like an eternity since the day at the ramen shop where they were all still a team. Now they were nothing but a shadow of what they used to be, it was all a fading memory.

The way that Sasuke was that night before it happened would always be imprinted in Naruto's mind. That was the last time that he saw Sasuke still pure, the last time that he saw him while he was still on the quest for power. What was his quest now but a tattered plan that his heart could never fathom. He was no longer the Sasuke that he had hated and become best friends with. He was a different person.

As he continued walking, he saw Gai walking down the hall. "Naruto!"

Naruto turned around. "Gai-sensei? What are you doing here?"

"I have to tell you something," Gai started. "Your sensei, Kakashi, he's going to be alright. He's waking up as we speak; he's coming out of the coma."

"What?" the young ninja asked. "Already? But he's only been in a coma for twenty-three days. I thought that he would be out longer than that," he looked into Gai's eyes. "We're getting our sensei back?"

Gai sighed. "Hold on there, kid. There's no telling how he's going to be. I don't know much about Itachi's technique, but I know a few things about it. There's a chance that he could never be the same again. Genjutsu's a hard thing to define. But assemble the full Team 7; we don't know which one of you kids he wants to talk to first. Are you all here?"

Naruto closed his eyes. "Sakura's with Team 10 and I haven't seen Sasuke in a while, but I could give him a call. I'm sure that he's going to be relieved that Kakashi-sensei's alive. He was so worried about him for the past few days."

Gai nodded. "You go ahead and call him."

As the jounin walked away Naruto looked at the payphones to his side. They all could finally be a team again, they were all back together. The guilt that Naruto knew that Sasuke carried was going to be all over as he heard the news. Kakashi was alive.

He moved to the phone slipping a few coins in as he dialed Sasuke's number, this was important. They were all going to be together again, they could put all of the sorrow behind them. It seemed like it was going to be so easy. Easy for him and Sakura maybe, Sasuke was never going to be the same, but he could always improve.

The phone rang as Naruto twirled the cord around his fingers patiently waiting. _Come on, you bastard…_

"Hello?" he heard a voice ask on the other side, it was Sasuke. His voice seemed to be thick with fatigue, almost as if he was out of breath.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "Is that you? Are you alright?"

He heard a cough. "Naruto? I'm fine, what is it?"

Naruto took a deep breath. "It's happening."

"What's happening?" Sasuke voice was rising. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"No," Naruto answered clutching the cord tighter. "I'm fine. It's Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, he's waking up. After twenty-three days he's waking up from his coma," he heard a deep breath on the other line. "What's wrong?"

"You mean Kakashi's waking up?" his voice was tight. "He's alive?"

"Itachi must have gone easy on him," Naruto answered with a laugh. "Otherwise I think that Kakashi-sensei would have been done for sure. I know that it's been hard on you, not having our sensei around."

Sasuke let out a low breath. "I'll be there, Naruto…"

The phone hung up as Naruto looked at it. There was something different about Sasuke right now than ever before. All of the hate that Sasuke had been holding back for the past few days was back to haunt him, but not toward Itachi, but Kakashi.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he whispered as he hung up the phone. "He sounds pissed…"

-----

Sasuke looked at the phone that he had just hung up his eyes not breaking from the objective. Kakashi was waking up, the same man that had hurt his brother so deeply. All of this time, the man that he respected as a sensei was the person who had destroyed everything that his brother was. Itachi was never that distant.

"_Sasuke, there's nothing that you need to know about that. It was four years ago, the memory is faint. I can tell you one thing, I will never forgive him."_

"Sasuke?" he heard a voice ask from behind him. "What's going on?"

He looked back to see his brother sitting on the floor changing the bandages that were on his left hand. He hadn't gotten to see what was underneath, now that he had all he could see were the bruises and the lacerations. It wasn't broken and Itachi could still use it, wounds never fazed him as much as they fazed most people. His ribs were still not a problem even though there were times where his breath caught in his throat almost suffocating him.

"Kakashi's awake," Sasuke answered.

Itachi looked up at his brother. "Congratulations, you have your sensei back."

The younger brother looked at the teenager on the ground watching him wrap the bandages wrap around his hands. "Itachi, I want to know why he woke up. That genjutsu is lethal."

"I got tired in the middle of the attack," Itachi answered. "I screwed up. Besides he has a sharingan, he was holding it off. The mental collapse still happened, but it wasn't enough to keep him down forever."

"Itachi," Sasuke started.

"But," Itachi started as he continued to wrap the bandage, "there's a chance that he might not wake up at all. He looks like he's moving because his body is starting to respond to the pain. There might be a way that I got him stuck in a moment of intense violence. Kakashi's a tortured man."

Sasuke walked over to his brother's side looking at his hand. "Do you need help before I go?"

Itachi looked up at him. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked taking the bandages from Itachi continuing to wrap the wound. "You're going to be alright," he laughed as he looked into his brother's eyes. "All of these years my dream was to destroy you, yet look at you, you've been beaten by every jounin that you face."

"Just because they spill blood doesn't mean that they won. Look at the results, who's still breathing without a machine?" Itachi asked.

"Barely," Sasuke continued. "I hit you pretty damn hard that night. I could have killed you if I applied a little more force," he looked up into his brother's eyes as he stopped wrapping. "I held back too."

Itachi moved his right hand to stroke Sasuke's face. "You're different than when you were a child. You've improved so much, working for a goal. I never understood what it was about goals that made people work so hard. It worked though, look at you, you're practically a prodigy."

"I'm weak," Sasuke answered.

"No," Itachi breathed kissing Sasuke's lips lightly. "All of those words I said, I'm taking those all back. I'm not going to lose you, not after I came this far to get you. You're going to continue to grow no matter how many people I have to hurt to encourage you. I want you to know everyone was wrong about you, you can be like me. But first you have to go see that man."

"But Itachi?" Sasuke asked as he let go of the bandaged hand. "What did he…?"

"I told you, you don't need to know what happened," Itachi answered with a small smile. "Just go to him and see how my work paid off. I also want to think of something else. Sasuke… this morning I talked about training you…" he took a breath, "even though Kakashi's awake, I want you answer. You pledged your allegiance; you've helped me, now I want to help you so I can hold my end of the bargain."

Sasuke stood up. "Don't bore me with the details, Itachi. I'll have an answer when I feel like it. Right now, there's nothing more that I want other than answers to questions that I've had all along," he walked toward the door. _If I can't get the answers out of Itachi, I'll get them out of Kakashi._

Itachi looked over his shoulder. "Sasuke, don't be reckless…"

Sasuke glanced back at him looking at the bandages on his face, arm, and hand. "I won't be reckless," he continued walking. _After what they did to you, one reckless move could get both of us hurt. You always talk about the spilling of innocent blood; how it's bad, but if you spill your blood is that justification?_

He continued walking watching as Itachi started to undo the bandages on his upper arm exposing the huge gash from a trench knife, the outside of the wound discolored as his body tried to scab over. He recieved wounds on his quest that Sasuke couldn't even look at without vomiting with guilt. It was all because of what happened in the hospital room with Kakashi, that's why he was hated.

"I love you," Sasuke whispered as he closed the door on his brother, looking up into the sky watching clouds starting to form over the sun. It looked like rain was going to come. The weather had been dreary lately to match the feelings that Sasuke had felt in his heart. All of the love that he had for his brother only brought undying hate for the man he once called his sensei: Kakashi Hatake.

_I want answers, Kakashi!_

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter was supposed to be combined with the next chapter, but it just got to the point where it was going to be too long. I would like to take this time to thank everyone who has gotten this far into the story, it means a lot to me. I also know that this chapter was kind of boring compared to the last one, and the guy in the robe will back soon. You all can still guess who it is. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that this story needs more action? honesty is always good. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or anything pertaining to the anime/manga.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains slight violence, yaoi, incest, crude language, OOC, and anti-canonical themes. This chapter is also shorter than the last one but not significantly. There might also be a few errors in this chapter as well.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, SasuNaru, references to KakaIta, and slight AsuKure as well as GaiKaka.

* * *

He took a deep breath as he tried to open his eyes; everything was so blurry, so out of focus. Through the fog all he could see were the cold red irises that he had seen before he had fallen hearing the words rolling off of those damn lips. All of the taunts that the young boy had giving him, the way that he waved failure in his face.

"_Sasuke is going to give me what I want, and I want you to stay out of this, otherwise you're going to get yourself hurt."_

All of the words that he had said against him were shining through, all of the bluffs that he had put up to make everyone believe that he was here just for the torture of the village. The final sound, the final blow that sent him deeper into the chasm of despair was what he thought he heard coming into the hospital room as he arrived. Moans, he could have sworn that he caught the sound of Sasuke's breathing rapidly increasing as it ran through his vocal cords. It sounded like pleasure.

"_He belongs to me."_

"Sasuke," he breathed opening his eyes wider. "N-no…" he could see the man that he had fallen at the hand of and Sasuke's lips touching passionately in a kiss. The more he thought about it the deeper the kiss got, Sasuke's slender fingers grasping at the enemies face pulling him closer. He wasn't going to win this.

"No!" he shouted as his eyes opened all of the way, his panting the only sound he heard over the doctors trying to hold him down. He could feel the numerous IVs being pulled out of his arms feeling the doctors press down harder on his chest trying to make sure that he wasn't going to move to hurt himself.

His body felt numb as the needles were removed his body, being free from all of the wires that had once taking him over. What happened to him? What did Itachi do? He used his genjutsu, but that was in Sasuke's room. Sasuke. He was probably still in the room if Itachi didn't get at him first.

What day was it? What time was it? Where was he? Why were there all of those machines? This wasn't how he remembered the outcome happening, he didn't remember the absolute collapse.

"Sasuke," he breathed again trying to calm himself down, the doctors leaving his side the door opening more footsteps coming to bother him. Looking up he could make out the faces. "G-Gai? K-Kurenai? What are you two doing here?"

Gai moved to take his rival's hand. "Kakashi, you're alright. Thank God, I thought you were gone forever."

Kakashi coughed. "What happened? Where's Itachi?"

Gai looked into Kakashi's eyes. "What do you mean? He's gone, Kakashi, he jumped out of the window after you got knocked out."

"He's dead?" Kakashi asked his voice raising. "He killed himself?"

Gai shook his head. "He's alive, there's a decree that says that we can't touch him. If anyone is found trying to destroy him and jeopardize the village they will be harshly punished."

"Decree?" Kakashi asked trying to move, his body still numb. "How long have I been out for?"

Gai touched his hand. "Kakashi…"

"How long?" Kakashi asked his eyes burning. "How long have I been out?"

The jounin sighed as he looked into his rival's eyes. "Kakashi, you've been in a coma for twenty-three days. That's almost a month. In those twenty-three days Sasuke was discharged from the hospital making an almost full recovery. He can finally move freely again, he can still be a ninja. He had some setbacks…"

"Setbacks?" Kakashi asked.

Kurenai looked at him. "Sasuke… just a few days after what happened to you went into cardiac arrest. They called the morgue and everything. They really thought they lost him, Kakashi."

"I was in a coma through all of this?" Kakashi asked as he turned away from his allies. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Gai looked away from Kakashi, he didn't want to see him like this. He didn't want to see him in a state of utter hopelessness. He didn't want to see him break. Kakashi Hatake was a man of principle, a man of the rules. Now he had lost all respect for them blaming himself for what happened.

"Did Sasuke go with Itachi?" Kakashi asked looking back at them.

Gai shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. All I know is since that day everything has changed. Team 10 has practically taken a long leave from being ninja. It's gotten bad…"

Kakashi closed his eyes. _"Then I'm going to have to make you stay, even if I have to break you arms and legs. I'm sorry, Asuma."_

"Gai," Kakashi let out a deep breath. "What happened to Asuma?"

He looked back at Kurenai. "Tell him Gai…."

Gai gazed into Kakashi's eyes seeing that he was still looking for the answer no matter how painful it was. "Asuma was caught in the cross-fire during a fight with Itachi. He went into the Hokage's office to protect him. He never saw the katana coming."

Kakashi struggled to sit up, his body numbing slowly. "You let him go? You let him go up against Itachi alone? Are you out of your mind? If I can't take Itachi then I don't want any of you to get the feeling that you can. I have a sharingan, and still I couldn't beat him."

"He made his choice," Gai answered looking into Kakashi's eyes. "He let him go after what happened to you, he never even tried."

"You're an imbecile," Kakashi stated looking at Gai. "You were so busy thinking about yourself you forgot about the most important thing. We're ninja that serve the Hokage, the Hokage was in danger and you knew that. Still you went off to tend to your own life. It's people like you that make me feel that the academies are too lax."

Gai bowed his head. "I did what I thought was right. That man pinned your student down and raped him. You're going to condone that? Sasuke went through all of that pain and you're still going to let Itachi live."

Kakashi closed his eyes hearing Itachi's laugh echoing through the room. _"He belongs to me." _The voice got louder as he tried not to look at Gai. Itachi was winning this, he was going to get to Sasuke at this rate, he was going to allow all of this to be condoned.

"Where's Sasuke now?" Kakashi asked.

Kurenai spoke up. "Naruto said that he called him, he's on his way now. Why do you ask?"

Kakashi looked over at her. "I want to see him." he immediately turned away. "Now get out of my face, you two. I don't want to see you right now."

Kurenai nodded as she went toward the door, Gai passing her in the process. "Kakashi, I was going to go after him, Asuma told me to stay behind. I know how you feel about teamwork, but he made me feel like I could trust him. The second that I heard he was wounded I broke down," she took a breath. "It wasn't our fault."

Kakashi turned away thinking about Itachi again. The images of his lips being pressed to those of his student's ran through his mind. Sasuke's voice was a crescendo of pleasure, his hands running through his brother's black hair. Itachi did put him through torture, the torture of knowing that his student's body was now his possession. Sasuke belonged to Itachi, it was over.

"_He belongs to me."_

-----

Sasuke walked through the doors to the hospital seeing his best friend walking out of the doorway. The bruises on Naruto's neck were still there from only a few days ago, still piercing through his heart. They moved in complete silence not even looking at each other. They were different people and it wasn't for the better, they had destroyed their lives. Looking over his shoulder he saw Naruto starting to slow down.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked stopping looking back at Naruto. "Talk to me."

The blond stopped moving as he turned around his blue eyes empty. The bloody night that they had shared reflected in there, he resembled how he looked when he lay dead on the mattress. Naruto was only going farther from his past self, and it was all Sasuke's fault. He was killing him.

"Naruto," Sasuke continued as he walked over to Naruto's side. "Talk to me, damn it!" he closed his eyes. "Are you going to be cold forever? Are you ever going to forgive me for what happened?"

The other boy started walking away Sasuke's voice starting to shake as he tried to suppress either his sorrow or his anger. He kept walking away trying not to look back at his best friend. He could never look back.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called out. "Did you talk to Kakashi, did you tell him…?"

"No," Naruto answered continuing to walk. "Why would I tell him that? Sasuke, I told you that I was going to support you through all of this as long as you never died on me. But you broke your promise…"

"What?" Sasuke asked. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto turned around as he chuckled. "You mean you don't know? All of this time all you ever wanted to do was beat out your brother, make him pay for what he did to you. All of this time you were trying to avenge everything that was taken from you, you were an inspiration." He looked up at him. "Now look at what you've become, you're his puppet."

The Uchiha looked back at him. "I am not his puppet! He doesn't control me. I'm in charge of what I do. I live for myself. I listen to myself. I won't let anything get in my way, I don't care who they are. He doesn't have any effect over the actions that I do, I don't live to please him. I live to kill him. That's the reason I breathe."

"Give me a break," Naruto scoffed.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Why don't you enlighten me on your feelings, you fucking bastard? Tell me what you think that I'm up to? What do you think is going through my hand right now?"

"I think that night was just for him. I want you to tell me how you _really_ feel about your brother. All of this time you've been saying you hate him, but I can see through you. I can read you like a Goddamn book," he took a step forward. "I know that you have feelings for him, you go home everyday and you touch yourself to the thought of him. You get off on the pain that Itachi gave you. You aren't the Sasuke I know."

Sasuke looked up at him. "Naruto, what are you trying to say? Are you trying to say that you don't trust me?"

Naruto gazed into Sasuke's eyes. "You're dead to me."

"Naruto," Sasuke continued as he watched Naruto walk away. "I know how you feel on the inside; I know that you feel empty. You're wondering why I was trying to kill you. I want power, more than anything else. If I need to sacrifice everyone in this village to get it then so be it, I can't lose to him."

He walked over to his best friend his eyes concealing every feeling that he had. All of what was happening in his life; it was all hidden deep within in his soul. The way that he felt about Itachi, the happiness that he felt in his arms was never to be spoken of. He wasn't even sure what the feelings were, they felt like love, but were they? Was he really in love with that which killed his parents?

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed. "Where have you been?"

"I was taking things easy," he answered. "Where were you yesterday?"

"Getting Sakura away from me," Naruto laughed as he looked at the doors. "I'm sorry, about what I said. I've been so confused lately. You don't know what it's like to be around someone and not know how you feel."

Sasuke nodded. "I do."

"I don't think you do," Naruto answered, looking away from Sasuke. "You, you're different than before. All of these years I wanted to be like you, I wanted to be Sasuke Uchiha, have the world at my feet. Now I know that's never going to be my way of life. But… when I look at you, I know in the hospital room I didn't feel for you that way, but my time's running out."

"Running out?" Sasuke asked. "What are you talking about, your time has just begun. I'm not going to hurt you anymore, no one is."

Naruto lightly touched Sasuke's face. "If only that were the case, if only I could believe you, but I can't, I can never believe those words. Itachi will come for me; he'll hunt me down so you won't be able to get the power you seek. If you're not with him, then he won't go easy on you."

They caught each other's eye as Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto in a hug pulling him closer letting him break down. Naruto was breaking right before his eyes, the power that he holding within his body scaring him. It wasn't fair that he was the one that Itachi was going to kill, it wasn't fair.

"You're going to be alright," Sasuke answered stroking his back smiling all the while. "Stop crying."

"It's hard," Naruto continued to hug at his best friend holding onto him tightly tears streaking down Sasuke's neck. "I don't want this power, I never asked for it. This isn't fair; it's not fair that I had to drag you into this."

"You're my best friend," Sasuke soothed grabbing hold of Naruto's chin. "I have to protect you no matter what the cost. If there's one thing that a ninja does no matter what it's protecting the ones that are precious to them. You're precious to me, Naruto, if I lost you, I would never forgive myself."

Naruto moved closer still as the first raindrop fell. "Sasuke… I… you're precious to me too. If anything was going to happen to you I would kill myself. I would kill myself if you ever died."

Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes. _I have to calm him down. _He grasped his chin tighter as he pulled him closer to his lips hearing Naruto gasp in shock. Naruto had said that he had never felt the way that it felt to kiss someone and really mean it. All of this time, Naruto was getting closer and closer to the edge of his rope, the ending of his life. Itachi was never going to find peace he was still alive.

Sparks ran through Sasuke's body as his lips hit Naruto's in a kiss, hearing the blond boy purr passionately. Hands pressed tightly up against Sasuke's back, feeling Naruto's lips part more than before allowing Sasuke's tongue to enter his mouth. He complied. The sounds that Naruto made didn't even sound human, they were strangled and weak, like a small animal.

"Sasuke," Naruto panted, backing away. "What was that for?"

"I wanted you to know that I'm here for you," he took his friend's hand pulling it close to his chest hearing Naruto gasp in shock. It was a gesture that worked for him all of these years, one that calmed him down almost instantly. _I'm alive. _He looked into Naruto's eyes deeply. "I'm alive, Naruto."

Blue eyes eased up as more raindrops fell. "S-Sasuke."

Sasuke clutched the hand tighter remembering the time where he was the one who was on the other side. There was no hope in his heart as he laid waiting for the moments where Itachi would come back. The long dark hours where he knew his brother's blood was getting spilled he could still feel the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I'm glad I ran into you," Sasuke answered as he looked into Naruto's eyes backing away. "I need to talk to Kakashi."

"I knew you'd want to see him," Naruto smiled. "He says that he wants to see no one but you. He even kicked out the other jounin. You must be pretty special to him, Sasuke; you're the first person on our team that he wants to talk to."

Sasuke started walking toward the door. "I understand the urgency of this situation. I know how he feels about that day in the hospital room. I know that he still feels bad for coming too late," he took a few more steps. _But more importantly, I want the answers to my questions. _He continued walking through the door turning to Naruto. "I'll call you later."

Naruto smiled as he walked his own seperate way not knowing of the darkness that was in Sasuke's heart. There was something that was going to happen, something that was going to jeopardize Team 7 forever.

-----

He walked toward the elevator, the same route that his brother had taken the day when he had seized the hospital. That was the day when all of this started. That was the day when he admitted his love for him.

The door opened as he stepped into the elevator not looking back at what the door was closing on. He remembered his ride not too long ago when he swore that he was going to avenge what happened to Kakashi by destroying his brother. The tables had turned since then. Itachi was a different person than he was before; he was starting to be the one that he had fallen in love with.

_Damn you, Kakashi, why did you have to do that to him? I've never seen my brother look so weak, _he closed his eyes remembering the night by the river, the night where Itachi left him to die. It had all starting the first time when Itachi's lips hit his, that was a catalyst for this reaction. The hatred in his heart was starting to ease up as he looked at what was once his one true hate had become his one true love.

It made him sick knowing that almost every night he went home to be held in his brother's arms. He should hate him, he should want to destroy him, but he was trying his hardest not to let his hate get in the way. He was with Itachi by choice; after all, Itachi said he was going to leave him alone, all Sasuke had to do was say no.

The door opened as he saw the hall that he had walked down, the hallway that he had followed the way that he had remembered the first day that he had seen Kakashi. This was different though. He was awake. He was able to talk to him. He wanted answers; he needed to have the doubts in his heart silenced. Itachi was no longer going to be in pain, promised himself that.

The door was right in front of him as he saw what was going to become of all of his answers, his brother's broken eyes still in his mind looking straight at him. Itachi was dying on the inside and knowing that Kakashi was coming back only wrenched his heart more. He grabbed the door opening it fully to see his sensei on the bed.

Kakashi was sitting up on his bed his chest puffing in and out painfully, the struggles of pain still in his eyes. Itachi's genjutsu was reflecting through the way he held himself, his hands shaking as he tried to block out all of the torture that he had gone through. This was what Itachi wanted of his sensei, he wanted to destroy him and let him live with the pain.

"You broke out," Sasuke answered from the doorway, taking a step forward. "I was starting to get worried about you."

The jounin looked over with one eye opened, the single black eyes staring blankly. "Sasuke," he breathed his voice flat. "You're alright, you're even walking on your own," his eyes moved up and down Sasuke's body seeing the marks on his neck. The wound that was on his neck would have healed by now, but judging by the way that the blood was scabbing, it was fresh.

"What?" Sasuke asked closing the door behind him. "What are you looking at Kakashi?"

"What happened to your neck?" Kakashi asked.

The genin gasped. "Itachi bit me… _remember_?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Tell me then, did it re-open? You're neck seems to be bleeding more than it was before. What really happened to your neck, Sasuke?"

The young boy closed his eyes as he shook. "I ask the questions here. I'm the one who wants answers," he closed his eyes tighter his head swirling through a kaleidoscope of anger his breathing becoming rough. "What did you do?"

"What?" Kakashi asked raising an eyebrow. "Sasuke, what are you talking about?"

"Don't… don't play dumb with me," Sasuke snarled still keeping his eyes closed. "You had to have done something to have him react the way he did around you. During your fight I picked up hints that you two had met before, but how and why I never knew."

He clenched his fists tightly, the feeling of his fingernails running through all of his nerves. Blood was running through the gashes, his eyes watering violently in the process. There was something that he had to know. Heart racing in his chest he walked closer not being able to look into his sensei's eyes.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked. "What has Itachi done to you?"

"Don't blame this on Itachi," he opened his eyes revealing the red irises of the sharingan, his eyes filled with anger. "I'll kill you!"

Kakashi looked into Sasuke's eyes. _He belongs to me_. Was what Itachi said the truth, the second that Kakashi let go was Sasuke going to go after him? The look in his eyes was not his own, it wasn't Sasuke. It was a half bloodthirsty the other half was begging him for answers, tears forming deep within.

"What happened to you?" Kakashi asked as he looked into Sasuke's eyes trying to find some sort of comfort in the irises. "What did he do to you?"

"I ask the questions, you give the answers," Sasuke continued. "Tell me, what the hell did you do to my brother? I saw the look in his eyes, the hate that was thick in his voice, you did something to him."

Kakashi looked away. "You're too young to understand. I'll tell you when you're older, Sasuke."

"Don't fuck with me!" Sasuke breathed as he opened his eyes fully. "What are you trying to do? Belittle me? I'm not a child, Kakashi, I can take care of myself and I can handle anything that you did to him. There's nothing you can do or say that will make me hate you less. Tell me!"

Kakashi observed him now that he was closer, the marks that were on his elbows and knees, they were hickeys. He took a deep breath of Sasuke's scent not smelling what he had before. He smelled this scent before, in his nightmares, in his past, in the highest moments of his life. The smell was jasmine, it was Itachi's.

"No," Kakashi sighed as he grabbed Sasuke's shoulders pulling him closer. "Please God, no!" he took a breath of his hair; it smelled that jasmine as well. The same sequences that ran through his head were back as he looked at Sasuke's face. He had been touched again by his brother, and he had allowed it.

"Let go!" Sasuke growled. "I'm warning you!"

Kakashi shook him once. "Sasuke! Tell me something as well. When did you…? When did you start having sex with your brother?"

Sasuke gasped trying to break free. "What do you mean?"

"I can smell him on you; I can see the look in your eyes as you say his name. His lips have touched yours once again. I know that he's been inside of you again; you can't hide what's going on. I know that you've been sleeping with him… _willingly._"

Sasuke pulled back. "You think you're so intelligent, don't you?"

Kakashi looked up at him opening his left eye. "You said that your purpose was to kill him and if you couldn't do that you had no reason for existence. Than tell me, now that you've accepted his flaws what do you make of it? What is your life now?" he narrowed his eyes his voice growing heavier. "It's a waste, that's what it is. A waste of your life! A waste of your time!"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Isn't your life a waste, Kakashi? You said that you were a man of principle and you were going to be a great ninja. Look at you, Kakashi, you're in a hospital bed, your body already started to eat at your muscles. You'll never be able to be a ninja again, not for a while anyway."

"That's not the same," the jounin answered. "You wasted four years of your youth!"

The young boy closed his eyes as he laughed. "Jealous? Are you jealous that no one can tame me except for Itachi? My heart was once revenge, but you told me that path was going to make me feel empty on the inside. I gave up on it to make my heart whole; Itachi opened my eyes to that. He told me that I was only going to hurt myself going on like this."

Kakashi closed his eyes. "Itachi is clouding your mind with his words."

"Your poison is not going to sink into my blood," Sasuke answered. "Now tell me, what the hell did you do to my brother? Why does he not have happiness that I know that he once had? Why did you destroy him?"

"I don't know what Itachi has told you," Kakashi sighed as he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Itachi tends to get over the top when it covers his ass. Don't forget who raped you."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "He opened my eyes, I was given a ticket to power and if my virginity was the price that had to be paid, then it was worth it. All of these years that I wasted on trying to kill him were worth it. It's because of my hate for him that made me realize that I love him."

"Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, watching a tear form in his student's eye.

"I love him," Sasuke whimpered. "Now that I'm with him I can finally let myself go. I got too caught up in trying to kill him, I lost my soul. I always idolized him, I wanted to be him. He was my first childhood crush. There were times where I used to hurt myself so that he would help me."

"Sasuke," Kakashi continued. "You don't love him, you're confused."

"You don't know how I feel when I'm around him. He makes me feel like I can let go of all of the hate in my heart. He makes me feel like I can do anything that I want. That's why he did everything he did."

Kakashi curled his hands into fists. "He's using you to get a quick lay, Sasuke. He's going to keep using you until your body doesn't satisfy him anymore. You're sick, you're starting to get weak on him, he's going to leave you alone soon. That's his style."

"No," Sasuke growled tears rolling down his cheeks. "That's _your_ style. What did you do to him? Did you get into a fight? Were you two rivals? Or worse yet, were you two in love? Did you love my brother?"

There was a small silence as the rain fell harshly up against the window. "Your brother and I were not anything that you should be hearing about. All I know is that Itachi was the only mistake that I ever made. If I never met him… all of the pain in your life would be weakened."

Sasuke swallowed hard. "No," he let out a deep breath. "Take it back! Take back what you said about him, all that you've said about him. Say what you like about me, that I'm a waste, that I'm worthless, but don't ever say anything like that around me again, not about Itachi."

"What happened to you?" Kakashi asked again,

Sasuke sat on the mattress next to Kakashi. "I don't want to be around you anymore!" he coughed as he fell into Kakashi's arms. "I don't want to be around you or Naruto or Sakura. I'm not like all of you, I don't have a goal. I have no purpose, I live a worthless life."

Kakashi moved to touch Sasuke's forehead. "You're burning up."

"What did you do?" Sasuke asked his voice quiet. "What did you do to my brother? I'll kill you when I find out and you're going to tell me. Itachi wouldn't, so you will. Tell me."

"No," the jounin answered. "I'm not going to give that bastard the pleasure. He touched you; he took your soul away from you. I should have been with you three that night; it was reckless of me to leave you. I should have gotten to the scene earlier than I did and stopped him before he got to you. Sasuke, it's my fault that you're with him."

"I'm happy, Kakashi," Sasuke answered looking into his eyes. "Don't take this away from me," he stood up and started to walk to the door not looking back at his sensei. _I had to choose between friendship and love. Even though it hurts me, I will come back to you one day, Kakashi, but I won't be the same as I was before. I'll have power._

"Sasuke!" the jounin cried out. "I'm in a coma for twenty-three days and you hate me? You can't let him push you around. You're letting Itachi push you around, Sasuke. The Sasuke Uchiha I know would never stand for that. You never showed respect to anyone, so why is he like a Divine God to you?"

"He made a promise, he said that he would never let anything bad happen to me," Sasuke answered. "And I pledged my allegiance to him, I'm now going to help him for the time being," he turned to Kakashi. "I tell you all of this in confidence, because I still trust you. I trust you, Kakashi."

Kakashi's eyes widened at the last remark. Even though he came in with all of the hate in the world in his heart he still was able to put that all aside and trust him. Sasuke was the enigma of the team; he was the student that it was a pleasure to teach. It was his favorite student walking out that door to Itachi, he was losing him forever.

"_He belongs to me."_

He closed his eyes as Sasuke left the room. "We'll see who he belongs to, I'm not giving up that easily," he lay back up against the bed. "Don't attack him because of me…"

-----

Sasuke moved inside the house falling to his knees almost immediately clutching his stomach, his head was still swirling through a series of hate, the words of all of the people that were close to him rolling through his head. They all thought less of him these days when he was finally accepting that he could never have the only thing that he wanted in the whole life. Itachi was always going to be alive.

"_You said that your purpose was to kill him and if you couldn't do that you had no reason for existence. Than tell me, now that you've accepted his flaws what do you make of it? What is your life now? It's a waste, that's what it is. A waste of your life! A waste of your time!"_

He fell closer to the ground as he closed his eyes trying to dull the pain in his stomach, his body feeling like it was on fire. Worthless, Kakashi had called him worthless and a waste, was he all of that? Was all of this just a waste of time? Was he never going to be the same person that they al wanted him to be?

"_I think that that night was just for him. I want you to tell me how you really feel about your brother. All of this time you've been saying you hate him, but I can see through you. I can read you like a Goddamn book, I know that you have feelings for him, you go home everyday and you touch yourself to the thought of him. You get off on the pain that Itachi gave you. You aren't the Sasuke I know. You're dead to me."_

Sasuke closed his eyes. _Is that all that I am? A dead worthless person? After all of this time did no one care? I was alone from the beginning and I'm always going to be alone. No one cares. _He leaned forward as he coughed fighting the tears that were rolling down his cheeks. _Even through all of the apologies none of it matters, it's all the same to me, they're all just here to make me be with them. My emotions don't matter. _He tried to fight the urge to vomit, trying not to let them win.

"_No one ever cared about you, Sasuke. Our parents hated you. Our clan hated you. Your teammates hate you." _

They didn't care, Itachi was right. Kakashi and Naruto didn't care. His parents didn't care. The clan didn't care. But Itachi was wrong about one thing, despite how tough he was trying to sound that night, he did care. He stood by him this whole time and he gave him a choice, he didn't have to be with him. He was even going to sacrifice his own life for him.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked, falling face down panting reaching into his holster for a kunai his hands shaking violently as he gripped the metal. "Itachi?"

He heard footstep come closer, it was Itachi. "Sasuke?" His eyes looked down at the young boy on the ground his eyes filling with more emotion that he had ever seen. It was a state of utter shock jaw slightly dropping at the sight. "What the…?"

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed clutching the kunai. "I… I… can't do this anymore…"

The older ninja's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about? What happened with Kakashi? Did he hurt you?" he moved down the boy's level looking into his eyes. "Sasuke… talk to me!"

"_He's using you to get a quick lay, Sasuke. He's going to keep using you until your body doesn't satisfy him anymore. You're sick, you're starting to get weak on him, he's going to leave you alone soon. That's his style."_

Sasuke grasped the kunai tighter. "Stop lying to me… tell me the truth!"

"What are you talking about?" Itachi asked being met with a kunai aimed at his neck, not even flinching. The look in the young boy's eyes was filled with hate, a hate that he had never seen thrust upon him before. "Sasuke?"

"Tell me what you're doing with me!" he pleaded looking into his eyes. "Tell me what I am to you. Am I just a toy for your sick pleasure or do you really respect me the way that you say you do?"

The kunai pushed closer to his Adam's apple as he gasped. "Sasuke, he's telling you what to do. He's trying to drive you away from your potential…"

Sasuke moved the kunai to rest at Itachi's shoulder. "You, you are the only one who I felt that I could trust, but you were the only one who made me feel uneasy. I gave you my heart and you…"

Itachi moved his shaking hand to grasp the kunai his eyes closing tightly not being able to look at Sasuke. What was going on with him? Ever since they met up again he was feeling different, he felt like he was someone else. The weight of the organization and the hatred had become to strong, he was already starting to break.

"Sasuke," he started taking the kunai away. "Kakashi is wrong about whatever he said about me. I love you, Sasuke, I love you more than I love my own life. If you don't believe me, then take that kunai and run me through the heart."

There was silence as he looked at the kunai in Itachi's hand. Who was he to believe: the man that he hated forever or the man that he trusted like father? His mind was going crazy as he looked into his brother's eyes and then at the bandages on his face, arm, and hand. He was being tortured to make this whole plan not hurt Sasuke. He was risking his life when everyone else would have sat on the side. And unlike Kakashi who would have done the same, Itachi embraced that Sasuke was going through a tough time and rather then helping him through it like a parent, his did it indirectly. Everyday with him was an exciting new challenge, another way to make everything that had once brought him down easier to swallow. He wasn't using him, it wasn't just a quick lay, he would have been gone by now.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed moving closer to him grasping his face his fingernails digging into the fair flesh. "I'm so sorry," his lips touched his lightly closing his eyes as a tear fell down his cheek. "Kakashi said… you were using me for sex."

"Sex?" Itachi asked, stroking the young boy's hair. "What make you think that's why I'm here? All of those times that we've done that, I could take them all back and love you no less."

"Are you just saying that?" Sasuke asked as he looked into his brother's eyes. "Because if you are, then I don't want to hear it."

Itachi pulled Sasuke closer to him taking him in a tight hug, his arms possessively holding him, the sound of his heart circulating through their bodies. Sasuke was crying, sobbing, he was showing all of the weakness in the world, but still he was holding onto him. The hug oozed with the feeling of compassion, the feeling of respect. All of these years, was he chasing after the wrong person? Was the monster that he was so afraid of nothing more than a memory curled up on the bloody floors of his mind?

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "What were you and Kakashi?"

He sighed. "Sasuke… I don't know why it bothers you so much that he's pained me. What he did to me is something that I don't want to share with you, not now anyway. I'll tell you, believe me."

As he held him he felt Sasuke cough harder his body clutching onto his tighter so tight that it felt as though the skin was going to break underneath his clothes. This wasn't like his usual coughs where Itachi could brush it off as nothing, this was different. The flesh of Sasuke's body was starting to heat up his breaths becoming heavy. This was getting more serious than it was yesterday, or this morning.

"Sasuke?" he moved to touch the boy's forehead. "You're burning up."

"It's nothing," Sasuke answered, feeling Itachi pick him up. "Stop it… I'm fine."

"Don't give me that," the older ninja answered carrying him to the bed. "You're sick, and this is more than a cold. I thought that your cold was gone, but colds don't have fevers," he held the boy tighter. "That damn hospital, all those days that you've been there you've been picking up bacteria," he opened the door to the bedroom.

Sasuke felt his body being put down on the bed as he felt his brother's warmth leave him. His body went from warm to cold, chills running down his spine to feeling an unbearable heat. He reached his hand out to grasp Itachi's breathing heavily. He could hear his brother muttering words as if he was praying closing his eyes. What was going on with his body?

"I-Itachi?" Sasuke asked.

"How long have you been feeling this weak?" Itachi asked looking down at Sasuke's shaking body.

"Since yesterday," Sasuke breathed clutching the hand tighter. "Did I give it to you? I'm so sorry…"

Itachi shook his head. "I have an immune system like you wouldn't believe, Sasuke. There's nothing that you can harvest could make me sick," he touched his forehead closing his eyes tighter. "Judging by your appearance and the way that your body is reacting, I'd say that you have the flu."

"Flu?" Sasuke asked. "I… I'm sorry if this ruins all of your plans."

"Don't worry about it," Itachi answered as he looked through the drawers pulling out a small cloth. "I'm going to help you get better, that's the first thing on my priority list. If you're sick then the plan is worthless."

Sasuke watched as the cloth was moistened with a glass of water that was on the side table his brother wringing the cloth out the water falling to the ground. Itachi's eyes were fixed on the cloth as his mind went through a series of thoughts. Kakashi was wrong, he did care about him, it was more than a quick lay. He really cared.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, feeling the cool cloth touch his forehead. "Thank you."

"It wasn't any trouble," Itachi answered as he pressed the cloth onto Sasuke's forehead hearing a shiver run through his body. "You're going to be alright, because I'm going to take care of you now."

_There's something about him that makes me feel as though I never wanted to kill him, not even for a second. Now I understand. I know how he makes me feel, I need him. I love him; _he clutched his stomach as Itachi moved a waste basket in from on him. He still pressed the cloth to Sasuke's forehead as he retched. It hurt his throat as he continued coughing, continued to vomit. Being sick around Itachi in the condition that he was already in, it was dangerous.

"It's okay," Itachi stated as he took the cloth away, the boy leaning in more to the basket. His body was moving painfully as he continued to vomit. "Let it all out…"

Sasuke grasped onto Itachi's leg as he let out the last few retches looking over at his shoulder at his brother's face. "You're not scared of this?"

"Of the flu?" Itachi laughed.

"Your ribs, they're broken, your body is susceptible to a disease," Sasuke breathed being pushed back onto the bed. "You still want to be around me even though I'll be the death of you?"

"You always wanted to kill me," Itachi smiled, a genuine smile, the first one all day, the first one in a while. "This is your chance to finally let it all happen."

Sasuke felt the cloth touch his face again, "Itachi, about your offer, the one that said that you would train me. I would like that."

Itachi's eyes lit up. "Are you sure that you want to do that? The training will be long and hard. You'll hate me after it. We have so much to cover, and I'm not sure if you have the patience."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "What stupid test do I need to pass to become your student? Do you want me to kill someone for you? Do you want me to vow my undying allegiance? I want you to teach me."

There was a slight silence as Itachi looked out the window seeing the rain fall up against the glass. "I'm flattered that you would consider turning against your sensei. What did he say that made you hate him so much? I've never seen you this upset at someone."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "He called me a waste…"

"A waste?" Itachi asked. "He called you a waste? Is it because of me? He's attacking you because he knows about you and me, he thinks that you're the easier target; he can still get you onto his side. Kakashi, I thought that he was a better person than to be picking on twelve-year-olds, especially one who held his own better against me than he did. He's a sad individual."

Sasuke closed his eyes taking a deep breath. "Don't hurt him."

"How can I hurt him more?" Itachi asked. "I already put him in a coma for almost a month; anymore damage would just be barbaric. Besides, these Konoha jounin are starting to make me curious, what is this village doing?"

Sasuke smiled as he started to succumb to his fatigue. "You and your hate for the village, it's contagious, you're starting to make me hate everything more."

"Really?" Itachi asked. "Then I'm sure you'll be proud to hear that I'm going to allow your training to be put under me. Kakashi is wasting you and his lack of movement is not going to help you prosper. You want to surpass me," he looked down at the young ninja. "Right?"

Sasuke nodded as he started to lose focus, his mind starting to go through a chasm of darkness. The second that he gave in was the second that he was going to prove that he was weak. Even though he knew the words shouldn't get to him, they did. The people that he wanted Itachi to keep alive were the two who were hurting him the most. He should have let Kakashi die, he should have strangled Naruto. He was getting too soft; he was never going to surpass Itachi.

"It's going to be alright," Itachi answered. "The more you rest the better that you're going to get. I'll be right here when you wake up," he was engulfed by the darkness, "I promise…"

As he was engulfed he was at peace, he could still feel Itachi's hand squeezing up against his. The words that ran through his head ensuring that everything was going to be alright, all of this was going to pass. Hopefully.

Itachi let his hand go as he walked toward the door the sound of his feet going through Sasuke's ears. He was going to be there for him through all of this, like he always was, he was going to do what Kakashi couldn't. The support that he was giving him was unnecessary, but it was so soothing.

His whole body ached, every breath getting harder, it was starting to sink in. This was what was going to ruin him, this damn flu. Worst of all, he couldn't stop Itachi from what he was going to do to Kakashi. _Don't hurt him. _He took a deep breath as he fell into the abyss.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know this chapter was a little wierd at the end, and it didn't really answer any of the questions about the KakaIta pairing. But this is the beginning of more light shined onto Itachi and his feelings toward all of this, as well as more light on the night where Shisui died. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Mad at me for making Sasuke sick? I love honesty.

Next chapter Itachi goes to see Kakashi in the hospital.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or any of the charecters involved in the anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter contains some coarse language, violence, references to suicide, incest, blood, OOC, and the canon is dying and it's starting to show. This chapter is shorter than the more recent ones, but it is still pretty long. This chapter also contains a lot of spelling and grammar errors, I can feel it. I also would like to warn everyone in advance this chapter doesn't really answer the questions but it give more of an idea what was going on between the two of them.

**Pairings:** ItaSasu, slight KakaIta, references to ShisIta

* * *

The house was quiet compared to its usual self; the darkness engulfing the light. It wasn't the same as it was yesterday, it was cold for once. The sound of Sasuke's coughing was filling his ears making his whole body shake. Where did he go wrong? 

Was this what it felt like to be guilty? Was this the feared emotion that he had told himself never to feel? The day when he saw the blood running from his eyes, he knew it was the end. If that moment wasn't good enough to make him feel all of the guilt in the world, he swore that no other was. That moment forged him into this.

He walked through the passage ways looking at the courtyard remembering the days when he could just sit out there for hours, with Shisui. Knew he was never going to be complete again without him, he was a fool for doing what he did.

"_What are you trying to prove? Are you trying to get me to cry for you? I don't feel emotion because there is nothing to feel emotion for. When I look back on my life I see many mistakes, but guilt… that's not going to change what I did, so why bother?"_

Stopping, he remembered what he told Sasuke. Guilt was a weakness that clouded judgment, but what was guilt real? It was more than something to make him feel weak; it was a feeling that was not used freely. He vomited for hours after he killed his best friend, it was a necessary component, but it didn't ease the pain.

"Shisui," he breathed as he looked at the rain clouds. It had been four years since it happened, since he made a desperate move to see the true power of his clan, wiping out every single piece of it. He wanted to erase his name from history, but it was forever imprinted, the clan seemed just as great.

Continuing on he was right outside of Sasuke's room, hearing the coughing that was seeping through the door. _At least he's calmed down, _Itachi sighed remembering the screams coming from there last night from the chills, the sound still echoing in his ears. It was Hell.

The door opened as he saw the young boy on the bed still shaking his skin pale, sweat running down the surface. The room was thick with the heat of his body, the salty smell of sweat and vomit filling his nostrils. He'd never seen him in this much pain. He never wanted him to be in this much pain. If there was a way that he could take it all away so Sasuke could live happily, he gladly would.

"You're going to be alright," Itachi breathed taking the moist cloth off of his forehead hearing Sasuke cry out in pain. He ignored the way that his body writhed as he took another cloth into his hand moistening it, the water dripping to the ground resembling the teardrops that Itachi couldn't produce. This was the most torture he had ever been through. He knew how Sasuke felt, but he wasn't strong enough to save him. He was weak.

Placing the moist cloth on Sasuke's forehead he looked down at him. He was remaining calm through all of this. The art of ninja was all about self sacrifice; this was just another offering to his power. Was this a reasonable sacrifice? Was Sasuke something that he could just lose?

He touched the young boy's face feeling him shake more the chills running through his body. His fever was enflaming his body, there was no longer any hope for him, he was going to give into this, and Itachi was too proud to get help.

He was going to stand there and watch as his brother got worse. He kept telling himself it was only the flu; he was going to get better with rest. This was however not the case. After all that he had put him through, Sasuke's body had weakened to the state of him not being able to breathe half of the time. He just had to have faith in him.

"You can do this," Itachi answered hearing Sasuke's voice shake as he shivered. "I'm going to leave it up to you, Sasuke," he stood up as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, the dark circles under his eyes more intense than before. He looked horrible after another night of no sleep, another night of hopeless moments where he prayed it was all a dream. This had to be all pretend, how could something like this happen to him now?

He walked through the door looking over his shoulder, Sasuke was still suffering. _It's time to start perfecting that technique, I never thought that I would have to look back on the formation of it. _He heard another cough as he walked through the door. "Please, Sasuke, don't get worse while I'm gone. Be here when I come back."

He walked through the door looking at the rain falling down thinking of only one thing now. His mind was clear of everything but one man: Kakashi Hatake. He was the reason for all of this pain. He was the source of all of Sasuke's current hurt. It was up to him to end this before it got too heavy.

_I'm going back out there, I'm going to make you pay for all of this, _he thought as he looked back at the house still hearing the sobs that were filling his ears last night. No more, no more guilt, no more near tears, he had to keep his composure. He had to make the one who did all of this pay. Dearly.

-----

The room was silent again, all of the turmoil from yesterday dying down. The tone of Sasuke's voice was still running through his mind as he closed his eyes. The hurt, Sasuke was never going to look at him the same way ever again. How could he say those words to him? He knew that Sasuke was going through rough time; he went against his own words of wisdom to his team.

Sasuke was the only one who came; Sakura had never even passed the door since he woke up. Naruto was another story, he knew that he wasn't going to come by for a while; he was probably still worked up over what happened to Sasuke, to see his sensei after that would be torture.

Footsteps approached as he looked over to see the door. This was eerier than yesterday when Sasuke had come in. There was a chill running through the air as the door started to open. The figure in the shadow of the hall was different than before, taller than his students but shorter than Gai. He knew this person; he could swear that they met on more than one occasion. Then it his him as he took a breath, the smell of perfume filling his nose.

"Itachi," he snarled, watching the door open fully the teenager walking in. "You've got some nerve showing up here after what you did."

He stopped his insults as he looked at what Itachi had become; it wasn't how he left him all of the time ago. The dark circles under his eyes showed the desperation he must have gone through, the wrapped bandages showing that he had been active. He was shadow of what he used to be, these were the ruins that he had left behind.

"Kakashi," Itachi stated flatly closing the door as he walked toward the hospital bed, his eyes were dark, completely black. All of these days he had been hiding behind a sharingan. Now he had freed himself from the strain, he was coming in complete peace. "I'm glad to see that you got out of my genjutsu."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "You're so despicable. What you showed me, it was worse than death. Having to watch that for seventy-two hours was absolute torture. It was all I could think of when I got my senses back, you and Sasuke. Your sick love for him," he looked back at the door. "How did you get in?"

Itachi closed his eyes. "The front door, there's a decree now," he looked over at him with a vicious smile, "I'm untouchable. It was requested in the last breath of Asuma Sarutobi that I'm not to be directly harmed unless I initiate the contact. It seems as though your friend had some sense in him."

Kakashi's mind swirled with anger as he looked at Itachi. He was the one who was killing Sasuke; he was the one filling his head with these lies. If Itachi had never come back, they would all be the same; the tears that Sasuke was crying were his fault.

"I've had it with your shit!" Kakashi yelled grabbing Itachi's collar pulling him closer as he looked straight into his eyes. "What are you trying to do to that boy? Are you trying to kill him? You're making all of this worse. You're words are making him consider hurting himself."

Itachi looked into Kakashi's eyes. "You think that I'm doing that to him? He's not even thinking about killing himself. As for what I'm trying to do, I'm trying to reclaim what is mine."

"He doesn't belong to you," the jounin answered as he pulled Itachi closer.

"I never said that he did, Kakashi," Itachi answered as he looked into Kakashi's eyes. "He comes to me of his own free will. He's the reason why I haven't left. There are times I wish that I could, but I can't. I'm not going to turn my back on him, Kakashi."

They looked deep into each other's eyes looking for one of them to lower their defenses, but neither of them budged. Deep in Itachi's eyes, Kakashi saw pain; he was trying to conceal deeper turmoil than anyone thought he could feel. Something was going on with Sasuke, Kakashi knew it.

"Did Sasuke come to you last night?" Kakashi asked.

"He did."

The eyes of the older ninja became cold. "Did you get what you wanted? Have you finally had enough of his body," he took a breath. "Sasuke pleads that he loves you, he says that you make his life meaningful."

Itachi's eyes lit up. "He said that? That sounds far too romantic for him."

"Stop acting so nonchalant," Kakashi spat as he looked into Itachi's eyes. "What you did to everyone, was it all worth it? You think you are so special because when you grew up daddy beat you. You think that the world revolves around your way of thinking. You think that your poor relationship with your father is enough to justify this. Father and son relationship are not a way to show how we want to live."

Itachi's lips curled into a smirk as he snickered. "Isn't that what you based your life off of, your poor relationship with your father? He cared so little about you that he killed himself. Your father was a suicidal failure."

Kakashi's hand lunged out to grab Itachi's neck lightly squeezing the column hearing the teenager gasp out in shock. "What does that make you? Aren't you a suicidal failure too? I know that you've attempted it when you were young. A young boy going through your pain has to have thought about killing themselves once."

"Don't… talk to me… like you know me," Itachi said calmly through the pain of his neck being squeezed so tightly. "You don't know anything."

Kakashi looked into the young boy's eyes seeing the same spark that he saw all of those years ago, it was still Itachi in there. _I could never really figure him out from his eyes before I fell into the coma, but now he's so different. There's a certain beauty to his irises. _He loosened his grip. "I know you, Itachi. I know you better than anyone has ever known you. I know that Sasuke worries about you." he touched Itachi's face as he heard the young ninja gasp. "What did you tell him about us?"

"Nothing that he didn't already know," Itachi answered. "I told him I wiped out all of the memories of you. That's not a lie. I will never forgive you, not now, not ever. And now you're taking it out on my brother," he closed his eyes tightly as he looked away. "I want you to stop that, I want you to leave him out of this."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "You come in here make comments about my father and then you say that I'm not to talk about my student anymore."

"You mean _my _student," Itachi answered with a sly grin. "He's accepted to take my offer on; he doesn't want to be with you anymore, Kakashi. You're caging him; you are only going to hinder all that he wanted."

"And you think you know what he wants?" the jounin asked. "You don't know what he wants. You only care about yourself. That boy loves you and you don't even show any true emotion. It's all fake smiles when he's around you. Do you ever show any real emotions?"

Itachi touched the ring on his finger staring blankly at it. "Emotions?"

"It's all sex to you, isn't it?" Kakashi asked. "All about you getting your release off of him, you're almost done with him. He's sick; he can no longer give you your physical pleasure. You have to leave him."

"You think that you know everything," Itachi breathed as he closed his eyes. "You don't have clue do you? Just because you think you know me by what the damn Bingo Book says you think I don't care. I was up all night making sure that he was going to be alright. I made myself susceptible to his sickness for him."

Kakashi scoffed. "That's not love."

"And you know what love is?" Itachi asked. "If you loved anything you would know that you have to give up something in order to prove it, even if it's your own life."

Kakashi's eyes widened as he thought about it. Sasuke's goal, he said that he was going to kill his brother, it was his purpose. Was it still the case even tough Sasuke came in here pleading about love, about Itachi being the savior of his life? He was twisted enough to still want to kill him?

"You idiot," Kakashi scolded. "You're giving up your life for him?"

Itachi nodded. "I have nothing to live for. Once the goal against the organization is done I can finally be at rest."

"Organization?" the jounin asked.

"The Akatsuki," Itachi continued. "No doubt a person of your caliber as heard of it. It's an organization of S-class criminals that meet in order to obtain ultimate power. I believe that my defection from the group was due to some ties with Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked.

Itachi nodded as he continued on. "In order to support that tie, I had to be taken out because he thinks I'm too powerful. They feared that I would overrule them, they never trusted me," he took a breath. "Now that they have gotten of me being active in Konoha, no doubt they're going to bring more members to take me out."

There was a small silence as a roll of thunder went through their ears. This information seemed to be at the level of the Hokage's knowledge, yet Itachi was telling it to Kakashi. Even through all of the hate could he still trust him?

"Why are you telling me this?" Kakashi asked looking into his eyes. "What are you trying to do?"

Itachi closed his eyes as he thought about what he was saying the sounds of Sasuke's cries still running through his head. He could still taste Sasuke's lips from the last time that they kissed. It was all a distant memory now, the way that his voice sounded almost a distant memory, a dying ember.

"To warn you what is in store for when I take Sasuke under my wing," Itachi continued looking down at the man on the bed. "It's obvious that you are in no condition to be handling a child."

Kakashi closed his eyes. "Those kids are my life, Itachi. Don't be so cruel to take away my life," he took a deep breath, the struggle of the oxygen to the lungs being clearly heard. "Why are you being so cold?"

"_You have no idea what ninjas do to one another; you've never been in that environment, you don't know the pain in a ninja's life. You don't know the torture. This is nothing compared to that."_

Itachi looked down at him. "I do this because I know that you gave the same pain to me, Kakashi. The memories, as much as I try to forget them, they'll always be there, they're always going to be in my mind trying their hardest to break me. Kakashi, I don't want that life for Sasuke."

Kakashi grabbed the young ninja's shoulders so tightly that the force felt like it would bruise the flesh. "I won't let you have him, Itachi. I'm not going to let you get off that easily."

"I'm not asking," Itachi answered, the soft flesh of his hands touching Kakashi's wrists pulling them away. "I'm telling you that I'm going to take him away from you. It's done, Sasuke thought that what you said to him was demeaning, it even made him sicker than he was before," he laughed again. "Did you really tell him that I was using him for sex?"

Kakashi looked at him coldly. "He told you what I said?"

The Uchiha nodded. "He tells me everything that's going on in his life that has to do with you. You're the subject of most of his mindless rants. He doesn't like you as much as you think he does, he thinks you're too lax with him. He wants to learn and grow; he doesn't want to be babied by a man twice his age."

"You little brat," the jounin pleaded. "What does Sasuke mean to you?"

"I'm looking into the best interest for him. He needs a true heir of the sharingan to teach him how to harness the power. I have been working so long to get to be close to him again, Kakashi," he looked coldly at him. "Don't interfere."

The rain it the window so hard that the window could have broken, the sound of the EKG almost drowned out by the water. The look in Itachi's eyes showed that he wasn't going to break during this. He was never one to be easily broken. This was the most passionate he had ever been in an argument. He was determined to win Sasuke.

"And if I do?" Kakashi asked looking into Itachi's eyes.

The eyes that once were so empty filled with a threatening anger. "I'll kill you if you get in the way of this. I promise that you will die, and I never go back on my word, Kakashi Hatake."

"Is that a threat?" the older man asked.

Itachi nodded. "That's a threat. I'm not going to let anything halt the development of his power. He has potential to be better than me. His senses are sharp, his intuition is top notch, and he's a fast learner."

"You can't take him," Kakashi argued holding onto Itachi's hand. "Don't you see why I'm here? It's all for Sasuke. I gave up my life as a ninja for Sasuke and to keep him away from you. I can't let my sacrifice be in vain."

"Too bad," Itachi answered. "I can give him more than you can. I can make him feel like he's someone."

"You raped him," Kakashi argued. "You think that makes him feel better about himself, Itachi?"

"He said that he liked it," Itachi smiled. "He's a masochist. I thought you would know that from all of the years he was tracking me. He was looking to get hurt, and he finally did," he licked his dry lips moistening them quickly. "And don't think he didn't enjoy it, Kakashi. Sasuke thinks that he's so worthless that he needs to be beaten."

"And you do that to him?" Kakashi asked. "He's your little brother, Itachi. Why are you trying to kill him?"

Itachi shrugged his shoulders as he turned from Kakashi, the hairs that were bound in his ponytail moving along with the swift movement. "I do it because he asks me to. I don't do anything for myself anymore, you know I gave up all that respect a long time ago," he lifted his right hand the ring gleaming from the flash of lightning outside of the room. "I sold my soul, but now…" his voice was thick with hope, "I'm going to get it back. I can start anew, I have already started to feel like my old self again, only when I'm around Sasuke. He's changing too; he's becoming more aware of life realizing that wasting it is no longer an option. He's doing what he's always wanted to do."

"You mean what _you_ wanted him to do," Kakashi answered looking at the ring. "You went and you joined a dangerous organization while Sasuke was here. I've heard of the Akatsuki, Itachi, people die in the Akatsuki. Are you trying to leave Sasuke alone?"

Itachi closed his eyes. "Why would I leave him alone?"

"Itachi," Kakashi soothed touching the teenager's hand. "You got out of there with your life; you got out of there sooner than anyone thought you would. You're the only one other than Orochimaru who left there with a beating heart."

"I didn't leave them," Itachi sighed. "They let me go, remember?"

Kakashi looked into Itachi's eyes. "I'm grateful they did. If what you said was true, then Sasuke's become a better man because he saw the real you. You had to let go of that façade that you were holding for so long and finally show him that you do care. After all, you are taking care of him while he's sick. Not many people would do that when in your condition."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "You don't think I can care for someone?"

"How can you care for someone else when you said that you don't even care about yourself?" Kakashi asked. "You threw it all away in a single night just to see if you could, to see if you were able to destroy your clan. Itachi, you're different than that thirteen-year-old that night. You have a good head on your shoulders and you care more about Sasuke then I thought."

"I guess I care too much," Itachi sighed as he stood up walking toward the door. "I can assure you, the safety of Sasuke is my first priority. Any interruptions from anyone will result in a counter attack, I'll bring him back to you," he splayed his hand across the door as he closed his eyes tightly. "As for what I told you about Akatsuki. I want you to keep that a secret to the rest. I trust you, Kakashi Hatake, call me a fool, but I trust you."

"_I tell you all of this in confidence, because I still trust you… I trust you, Kakashi."_

_Sasuke, _as the days went on, Sasuke was starting to draw farther away from everyone else, he could tell by the way that he talked. He had dedicated himself to this man; the cost was Itachi's life and Sasuke's body. The bond between these two brothers was unnatural, almost barbaric. The thought of the two of them actually being together would always plague Kakashi's mind. How did they hook up? Only a few weeks ago they hated each other, now it was like they were at some sick peaceful agreement.

"Itachi," Kakashi cried out, looking at the teenager. "If you do take him, I want you to promise me one thing. Through all of your adventures with him, even with Akatsuki and Orochimaru hot on your trail, promise me that you won't let him get hurt. Say that you'll cherish him like the soul that he is. Promise me, Itachi."

There was a slight silence as Itachi turned around his eyes filled with a strange look in his eyes the dark irises stabbing through Kakashi's heart. "I won't hurt him…" he took a deep breath. "I'm not like you."

The door opened as it took Itachi away from him. He was losing Sasuke to him, and all he could do was sit there and watch. He was unable to move, unable to protect his team like he swore he would. He said that he would protect them with his life. He turned his back on them, letting Itachi bring Sasuke into that dark dangerous world of his.

There was no stopping him; the decree had said that no one was to touch him unless he initiated first contact. That was Asuma's wish before he lost it all. Times were hard, they were no longer the close family that the third wanted them to be. They were a scattered jigsaw puzzle, the pieces nowhere close to being put together.

As Itachi's footsteps disappeared, Kakashi knew that it was going to happen again. He was going to be left with the pain of knowing that Itachi was going to recklessly throw his life away. And what for? For Sasuke, of course, that was his reason for still being alive, to have the kid surpass him in everything.

"Itachi," Kakashi breathed as he looked up at the EKG. "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

The images of his nightmare were still running through his mind. Itachi was so merciless, so loveless. How could he make Sasuke feel the warmth that he was talking about? All he could see was the cold that he had thrust upon him. He couldn't see the way that he was trying to protect him from all of the troubles in life, he was protecting him because of Sasuke's blood line: Uchiha. But why that was a factor, Kakashi didn't know. All that he did know was that Sasuke was happy with his brother; he was finally embracing life with all of its flaws.

"You better keep your promise," Kakashi muttered as he looked at the door another sound of thunder going through the room. "Or I'll kill you. If that boy comes back with one single scratch, so help me God!"

The room was never this quiet, he had chased everyone away from him so that he could get to Sasuke, but he had failed him, he was going to be branded with that forever. He swore that he would never see another Uchiha die, not after what happened to Obito. Sasuke was going to be his next one to watch standing helpless as the life was drained from his body. No, not another one, not another loss from that clan on his conscience, he wasn't going to let either of them die that easily.

"Akatsuki?" Kakashi asked as he closed his eyes. "I fear this has gotten worse than it already was. Be careful, Itachi… don't die…"

-----

Itachi walked to the doorway of the house that he had once called home, the one that held Sasuke in its confines. There was something that was going on with his life, something that he would never be able to explain. All of this time he was relaxing trying to convince Sasuke that there was nothing wrong, but there was: someone had seen him, they knew him.

"_I never thought I'd see you running from a fight. The Great Itachi Uchiha, prodigy of the Uchiha clan is running away from a battle when it was far from done, you went easy on him. You're growing soft."_

"That voice," Itachi breathed as he walked through the halls, water dripping off of his body. "I know that voice from somewhere. But where did I hear it? Why is this all so clear? Why am I starting to worry?"

He moved to open the door to Sasuke's room hearing the coughing; he was gone for too long, his blood pressure rising as adrenaline soared. Would he like what he saw on the other side of the door? The heat seeped through the door hearing the rapid breathing that was coming from Sasuke's lips. The more he opened the door the more he got to see what had become the young ninja.

Eyes met the sight that Sasuke was. Through the lighting of the electricity in the sky, his body seemed to glow from the thin layer of sweat that clung to his flesh. He shook with small tremors all through his body, small pants leaving his moist lips. Sasuke was worse than he was yesterday; the sickness was only going to get worse.

He took one step forward as he watched his brother suffer, a warm blush across his cheeks contrasting with the pale skin of his face. The sickness had taken hold of his body. This was getting to be too much for any person to handle.

"Did I do something wrong?" Itachi asked as he closed his eyes thinking about all of the actions that he had done. He had sacrificed so much to get to this moment, so much which he held so dear. He had never felt like this before he came back to the house still hearing the laughter that passed his lips. Shisui.

"_You made me do this, I could have done this for you; I could have been the one who died instead."_

The pain returned to his ribs, his lungs swelling at the contact with the bone. "Shit…" he cursed as he buried his face in the sheets grasping them tightly trying to get over the pain. He knew what Sakura did wasn't going to take away the pain; a ninja of her age would only be able to use Mystical Palms to heal him temporarily.

Crimson liquid left his lips as he clutched at the sheets tighter, it had never hurt this much before. He could literally feel the unforgiving bone of his ribs jabbing into his lungs almost breaking the tissue. His throat constricted tightly as he coughed harsher. The sounds of his own respiratory distress mixing with Sasuke's to make a painful aura to the room.

"I… can take this," Itachi told himself as he looked at the young boy. "Nothing that he could do could take me out this easily," he moved his hand painfully to lift up his shirt to see the dark skin that covered the left portion of his rib cage, the skin pulsing with every beat of his heart.

The pain was unbearable as he fell back onto the floor coughing, vomit seeping past his lips. His whole body was convulsing with pain as well as disgust for what had become of his body, of what had become of his name. Was this what Shisui wanted when he lost his life? Wasn't this what he was trying to prevent?

This pain was analogous to the pain that he had felt all of those years ago, it was the same as when he used to go by the river and think. Then he had Shisui to help him through it, their bond becoming tighter everyday that had gone by. Now it was different, the ring on his finger was showing him something that Shisui had never thought would happen, as well as the mangekyou sharingan.

"_You went and you joined a dangerous organization while Sasuke was here. I've heard of the Akatsuki, Itachi, people die in the Akatsuki. Are you trying to leave Sasuke alone?"_

"_There's a high chance that the person who's unlocking it might not survive."_

He closed his eyes as he wiped the excess liquid from his lips. "I…" he took a deep breath as he struggled to move up from the floor. "I survived…"

He closed his eyes tighter still remembering the bubbles that had seeped through the river as he held Shisui under. Every last one was bursting in his mind hearing the screams. That was a day when he turned into this. That's why he left the village and sought power. That's why he was the way that he was presently.

He looked back up at Sasuke, he was so peaceful. Even though the sickness was taking its hold, it wasn't as bad as what Itachi wanted him to do. Imagining blood trails from those eyes, the screams seeping from his lips. The pain of knowing that he wanted him to go through even the first stages made him wonder why he was still going on. He kept him alive to surpass him, not to throw his life away.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he fell to the floor his eyes closing.

He was falling away from everything around him; he couldn't keep this insomnia up any longer. The more he tried to block out the pain, the more he felt like a human. He was becoming what he feared, he was becoming weak. Weakness was the disease that he would never be able to recover from no matter how hard he tried. He wasn't going to give in.

Kakashi told him not too long ago to give up on his dreams of being a ninja, saying that the road was never going to be an easy path. Itachi never liked anything to be easy, the more challenging something was the more of a thrill that he got out of it. This however wasn't challenging, it was painful. He had to watch as not only his body started to die on him, but as Sasuke was going through pain as well. This wasn't part of the plan. He was supposed to break him so that he would open his heart to what the world really was and become more of a person, and it worked.

A cough filled his ears as he looked up at Sasuke's hand gripping at the sheets; he was going through unbearable pain. The more pain he went through, the more that Itachi understood that he was going too slow. He should have been building Sasuke faster instead of letting him become this way. Sasuke was never going to make it if life kept treating him like this.

Darkness continued to swirl behind his eyes as he fell to the ground, the smell of vomit and sweat filling his nostrils. This room, it personified all that his life had led up to. He was lying broken on the floor with the only other piece of him dying less than an arm's length away. This was what had become of him. He was the biggest failure that he had ever met.

_I'm letting them win; I'm letting every single one of them push me around. All of this time I had a sense of security, I knew that if I messed up I'd be covered. Not now, not now that I'm alone. I have to cover myself and Sasuke; _he felt another surge of pain going through his body closing his eyes tightly to the point where he feared blood would run down his cheeks.

Time to morph, to change. There was no more time for second guessing himself, wondering when the time was right. This was now or never. He had to make a choice. The effects of all that was going on were taking his soul away as he lay down on the floor. Was this death? Was this how he was going to end his life, bloody on the floor of his old house? Was he going to die a pitiful death?

"Sasuke…" he breathed trying to fight his body's response to the pain. It was time to give in; it was time to admit defeat. The defeat that he had always feared but dreamed of having had come true: it was Sasuke that had killed him. That night a month ago, the night when they met up again, the blow to his chest made him like this.

"I'm sorry," it was the first sign of guilt that he had felt in a while, his body moving from the floor shakily trying to lift himself to get to the side of the bed. "Sasuke, you… you did it," he coughed harshly as he fell onto Sasuke's stomach feeling the muscles convulse against his face, blood dripping onto the sheets. "You killed me…"

He closed his eyes as he was engulfed by the darkness, his breathing becoming heavy. The walls around him were closing in, suffocating him so harshly. All he could hear was the laughter of the organization that had dropped him. This was all a game to them. It was a game that they couldn't win even if he did die; they were never going to get what they wanted.

A sigh passed his lips as he gave into the darkness.

* * *

**Author's Note: **That chapter ending on a negative note, it sounded like the two of them died, but I'll tell you right now that they are not dead, they'll be back in the next chapter. As for the mysterious man in the robe, he has still yet to be unmasked, his identity will be revealed soon, this will either prove your hypothesis right or wrong. So what did you think? Was it good? Bad? Want me to cut to the chase? Honesty is good. 

Thank you to all of my reviewers, I was starting to fear that no one was still interested in this story.

Next chapter Itachi does some work on a copied jutsu that he didn't think he would have to work on this soon.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or anything involved in the anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter contains blood/violence, incest, yaoi, coarse language, OOC, and this is where the canon is no longer a factor (it's already dead). There night also be some errors littered here and there that I didn't pick up, so bear with me. This is also pretty long (approx 15 pages). I hope you enjoy.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, Itachi/? (man in robe), references to ShisIta, some ItaSaku and ItaIno (not much), slight onesided SasuSaku and SasuIno (not much)

* * *

"_You know why I wanted you to come here, right?" a voice asked as he came closer to the edge of the river. "Come closer," he turned to look back at him. "You're late, Itachi."_

_He stepped closer. "What's the point of this? Why did you urge me to see you tonight?" he took a deep breath. "Shisui, there's something going on with you."_

_Dark eyes looked up into his. "Itachi, one of us is going to die here tonight…"_

He opened his eyes to look around the room, it was a just a dream. He had been thinking about these memories often, he could only think of Shisui when he was in the prison of his old house. This one seemed the most real of all, the feeling of anticipation that was running through his body as he stepped closer to his best friend, his heart was still racing in his chest. These past nights had been torture for him. How cold he go on like this? How much longer could he try to block out who he was to set an example for what a ninja should be.

His eyes gazed around the room, ahead to Sasuke who was on the bed his head to the side facing away from him. It had gotten better since last night. The once pained movements of his chest were transformed into soft rises and falls, the sound of breath was for once gentle.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked as he moved from Sasuke's chest feeling the young boy's hand touching the back of his head. The warmth of Sasuke's sweaty sheets stuck to his face as he moved back hearing the moan of protest. "Have I been asleep for that long?"

The clouds outside of the window were white for once after the long storm that was still running through his ears. Sasuke wasn't awake to experience another night of absolute fear; he was asleep when it was going on. He was still asleep when Itachi had his collapse, he didn't hsve to see that pain.

"Today's the day," Itachi breathed as he looked at his hands. "This is the day when I finally improve that jutsu. I'm going to perfect it," he looked at Sasuke's slumbering form, "for you."

Moving closer, Itachi lightly kissed Sasuke's lips touching the moist flesh of his cheek. He was going to awaken eventually; he had already been sleeping for over twenty-four hours. Did he want to wake him? Did he really want to put him back in this world of misery and pain that was so intricately put together with everything that Itachi did? That would kill him for sure.

He decided that it was all up to him, to finally prove his worth to himself. Sasuke didn't have to watch this, not as his brother broke down right in front of him. All of Sasuke's dreams, all of his ambitions had revolved around Itachi's strength, even now. Did he want to break his heart one more time and show Sasuke that all of those four years was a lie, that his brother wasn't the person that he thought? No, even with all his emotions struggling, he couldn't hurt Sasuke. He wasn't going back on his word. He had to stop breaking his promise.

He moved back, the pain in his ribcage stabbing more than ever. For the past month, the pain of bones piercing into him was running through his lungs, but never was it this bad. The fight with Asuma brought upon pain that he never wanted to feel before in his life. What did the jounin do that caused that much damage?

The desk, it was all so clear now. When he was slammed face first into the desk, even though he swore that he caught himself before he could put any more stress on his body, the gasps of air only brought his lungs closer to the bone. After seventeen years he was finally going to end his life, after all of the times where he thought he would never get out alive, his death was by the hand of who he loved.

Everyone was right, he was expendable. He was able to be tossed aside easily, because he didn't matter. Yet that was the food for his strength, he wasn't supposed to matter to anyone that was around him. He was just a pawn in all of their games, and that made him content with his life. There was hitch in that plan now, Sasuke thought more of him than just being a pawn, he needed him more than he needed anything in this world. When he saw him cough up blood all of those times showed that he was finally feeling sorry after four years. It made Sasuke wish that he knew Mystical Palms to save his life.

Struggling to his feet he could still hear all of the words that Sasuke had said to him. Through the tears and the screams that seeped through the young boy's lips, he found some reason. It wasn't just angry gibberish; he meant every word to somehow make Itachi realize that the way he was living was reckless.

"_I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, Itachi. I've been searching the memories, searching my heart for all of the memories of you. If you love me then you would feel guilt for that night."_

He felt his heart wrench as he remembered that night, all of the nights where he feared he would lose Sasuke forever. He was losing the battle against Konoha, all Sasuke could see was what Itachi was four years ago the night when everyone died. He didn't know how he was now.

"_People like you don't change, once apathetic, always apathetic; you can't change your character. You can say all that you want, but you're still the same. You broke my heart; you can't take that back again. You use me, you abuse me, you make me worry, what do you expect me to do?"_

"Is that how you really feel?" Itachi asked looking down at Sasuke's sleeping form. "I use you, I abuse you, I make you worry, and it all kills you on the inside. Is that how you feel when you're around me?" he closed his eyes. "You did well, Sasuke. You hated me, detested me, and you lived a shameful life. All of the true feelings that I have for you aren't returned, you took all of your love and you turned it into hate," he closed his eyes tighter. "You did well, better than I thought you would. Yet, I keep feeling that this is all a lie, you don't really hate me do you?" he laughed running a hand through his hair walking out the door. "Looks like you're going to need more training… if you ever want to kill me."

"_Tell me what you're doing with me! Tell me what I am to you. Am I just a toy for your sick pleasure or do you really respect me the way that you say you do?"_

He walked out the door closing it behind him. "After all of this time no matter how much I hurt him, he's never going to hate me. I was right all along, the child isn't capable of hate because he cares too much," he looked up into the white clouds smiling. "Maybe the choices I've made aren't so bad after all, maybe there was a reason for me to go through all of that pain," he closed his eyes. "But still… life isn't working out these days," he turned around to look at the door behind him, his eyes burning with sorrow. "He's not going to get any better, and that guy is still out there."

"_I never thought I'd see you running from a fight. The Great Itachi Uchiha, prodigy of the Uchiha clan is running away from a battle when it was far from done, you went easy on him, you're growing soft."_

He slammed his fist up against the wall as he closed his eyes tightly trying to block out the voice. "Damn it!" he feel up against the wall sliding down to the ground. He was getting weaker throughout all of this time. Is that the reason why the Akatsuki kicked him out? Was it because they knew he would never get the nine-tails on his own?

"Damn it," he looked down at his feet opening his eyes slightly moving his hand to touch his knee, the ring shining on his finger teasing his sanity. The moments that he in that organization took his soul away, he was barely alive. His heart was barely beating in his chest. Quickly, he moved his fingers to wrap around the ring, slowly pulling it off of the digit clutching it tightly.

All of this was hitting him too fast as he remembered the few days before he wandered aimlessly to the village seeking this purpose, this was his last chance to prove to himself that he didn't let Shisui down. That day by the Nakano River went through his mind, what if he was the one with his head held under the water?

"Damn it," he repeated as he looked at the ring, the pain still surging through his body, all of the wounds that were etched into him screaming at once. He was slowly dying on himself. He was going to leave Sasuke behind; all of this was going to get too heavy for him. Would he last a second once they came after him? Sasuke wasn't going to let this happen, he would try to work around it. Life wasn't that simple. If only it could be as simple as that.

He let go of the ring as he heard another cough behind him looking straight at it. All he could see was the water splashing as Shisui drowned, all he could hear were the muffled screams of his best friend. Why did it have to come to that? It could have been different than it was, it could have been Shisui sitting here thinking his life was a just a waste of time, Itachi wasn't worth this much. This wasn't fair; he was the one who wanted to die. He was the one who deserved to die.

"Time for sitting around is over," he sighed as he moved to his feet, looking off into the distance. "It's now or never."

Closing his eyes, he cleansed his mind of all of the stress from the past days. He couldn't think of all of that right now. Everything that Kakashi said, all of the pain that Sasuke was going through, it all had to be put behind him. Itachi had to focus on his hands, fearing that the flow of chakra in his body had been diminished with all of his injuries. He could feel the power surging to his hands. This was step one.

Step two; he had to remember what Sakura had done that day when he tried to kill Kakashi. The goal of having her use that jutsu was not for her to actually heal him, it was to give him the blueprint of the basics of it.

He opened his eyes to his hand glowing brightly, smiling at the fact, it usually took people months to even get this far, but he wasn't an ordinary person. He had surpassed everyone's expectations when he mastered every single jutsu that his father had thrown at him including the sharingan by the time he was eight. Nothing that anyone could thrust upon on him would bring him down.

"That was easy," he smiled looking at the glowing hand. "Why is everyone always complaining about this being so hard?"

He moved his shaking hand to his chest, the last step, test it out. The formation was easy enough; he mastered a technique in less than a day. Or so he thought. The second that the touched the area over his chest, he felt a pain run through his body a visible tremor running through his body.

"Shit," he cried out as he coughed, the largest amount of blood he had seen seep from his lips hitting the ground, the red liquid running off of the edge, continuing to drip from his mouth. "Shit!" he wiped the excess blood away from his lips still feeling the ripping feeling running through his body.

The blood continued to drip with every breath that he took, more pressure from his ribcage pushing on his lungs. "I shouldn't… use myself as a test subject," he coughed again as he watched the blood run through the cracks underneath the door into Sasuke's room. His weight fell against the door as he closed his eyes trying his hardest to think about what he was doing. This was going to take long. Even as a prodigy, it would take at least a week to get the jutsu down.

"Shit," he cursed again as he watchd blood continue to fall on his lap, his eyes becoming blurred from the sudden loss. "I have to keep on trying," he gazed into the clouds, remembering what everyone said, even what Shisui said on the fateful day.

"_You think you can beat me, Itachi? You are so dumb aren't you? You know after all of this time it would have to come down to this. We are the only two ninja in this clan who could survive the transition. But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?"_

Itachi closed his eyes tightly. "Shisui, you were wrong about me. I can still make it through this. My body can take more than the average person's, I'm in control," he coughed again more blood seeping through his lips, his throat burning from the pressure. "I was the one who arose victorious after all, and I made them all pay for what they did to me, just like I said I would."

He lightly touched at his chest as he closed his eyes. "Let's try this again."

-----

"_Our little secret." _The words that he had said to her that day still went through her mind. The day when he came to her was the strangest moment of her life. Contrary to all of the rumors that she had heard, Itachi wasn't the evil sociopath that everyone said that he was; he was actually nice to her. All he said were compliments and words of trust; he didn't even raise his voice at her. Was that who Sasuke was trying to kill all of these years? Was that the monster he kept talking about? Sakura didn't see it.

"Sakura, are you sure you're okay?" Ino asked as she continued to walk down the street. "You're spacing out."

"What?" Sakura asked she looked over at her friend. "Oh, sorry."

"Are you really alright? Ever since we left the hospital you've been quiet," Ino looked forward as she smiled broadly. "You're thinking about Sasuke again aren't you?"

Sakura closed her eyes tightly remembering the way his lips felt up against her hand, the way his fingers felt running through her hair. He showed more interest in her than anyone else ever had. Sasuke had called her annoying on more than one occasion and Naruto was pushing her away. When Itachi could have left, he stayed.

"Yeah," Sakura answered. "I'm thinking about Sasuke, how did you know?"

Ino scoffed as she brushed her ponytail off of her shoulder. "Oh come on, every time you get like this you're always thinking of him. I haven't seen him in a while, is he alright? The last time that anyone saw him was yesterday."

Sakura's eyes widened as she remembered. "Yesterday?"

"_No one has. I've been around town asking for him, but everyone has given me the same answer. They saw him last night, but since then he's been gone." _

She moved one foot in front of the other faster as she started to run away from Ino. He could be hurt. Sasuke could be in trouble just like he was that night. Heart racing in her chest, she only ran faster to get closer to him. She wasn't going to be late this time, she wasn't going to go through that pain again.

"Sakura! Slow down!" she heard Ino scream behind her as she started to run.

_I have to get to him, _Sakura thought. _Before anyone else does. _She stopped as she got to the river's edge seeing a man sitting by the river's edge in a dark robe staring off into the water, his body barely moving as the wind blew at the robe, the fabric flapping in the wind. Sakura started to walk toward the edge.

"Sakura?" Ino asked as she watched her friend continue to walk. "What is going on with you? What are you doing?"

"You can go somewhere else if you want," Sakura answered still walking forward to the figure which stayed fixed on staring at the water. Who could it be? There was so much shady action going on these days in Konoha. Was this a new person?

She walked to the edge of the water next to the figure as it spoke. "What are you doing here, Sakura?"

She gasped. "How do you know my name?" she looked back and saw Ino. "About time you caught up."

"Sakura," she gasped for air. "You can't go after every mysterious person that you see. That's how people get kidnapped and raped, you know," she looked at the man in the robe. "Who is this guy anyway?"

Sakura touched his right arm hearing him hiss in pain. "You're hurt."

The man coughed as blood fell into the water of the Nakano River as he muttered an incoherent curse. Sakura knew the action, she knew the cough, she knew the voice. She had seen this all before in her life, but the question was where did she see all of this? Then it hit her as she saw the hand, the purple nail polish.

"Itachi?" she asked touching the hand. "Is that you?"

He held her hand, squeezing it tightly. "Be quiet about it, Sakura."

"Why are you down by the river?" Sakura asked, recognizing the exact location. This was where _it _happened; this was where she and Naruto had run down to see their fallen comrade. He had returned to the site where he had raped Sasuke a month ago. Usually she would think he was relishing in his conquest, but judging by the way he was aimlessly staring, perhaps it was guilt.

"Just thinking," Itachi answered as he tried to ignore Ino behind him. "You brought someone else?"

"Ino?" Sakura asked. "She can't hurt anything."

Ino sat next to Itachi. "You're Itachi Uchiha?" she asked, her hand moving to grab his shoulders pushing him to the ground hearing him gasp in pain. "Why? Why did you do that to my sensei?"

Itachi turned his head to the side as he felt her slam her fists up against his chest, one push of force hitting the bruises that were on the left side right above the bruise that Sasuke had left him with. A glut of blood passed his lips rolling down the slope of the ground into the water.

"Shit," he muttered as he pushed her off continuing to cough, more blood falling from his lips hitting the ground in great amounts. "Your sensei was Asuma Sarutobi, right? It was unfortunate what happened to him, I know you must be in pain right now. You hate me and you have every right to," he pulled the hood off of his head as he wiped the blood from his lacquered lips. "How much blood can I lose today?"

Ino looked at him as he continued to wheeze, small droplets of blood falling from his lips. "Did I do that?"

He shook his head looking over at her with empty eyes. "I've had that problem for a month now. You didn't do anything." Wiping the sweat from his forehead he looked over at the two girls. "But what are twelve-year-old girls doing walking home alone? Don't you know it's dangerous out here? You never know when you'll run into a criminal."

Sakura gazed at the amount of blood. "I thought I healed you."

Itachi laughed. "You did."

"Then why?" Sakura asked. "Why are you still like this?"

He moved his hand to stroke her face. "Because even the best ninjutsu cannot heal wounds like this, this wound is not supposed to be healed. Sasuke did this to fulfill his dream of finally killing me, and it's not going to cease until he succeeds."

"He doesn't want to kill you," Sakura answered as she watched his eyes move back to the river. "Sasuke just wants you to pay attention to him. These days he's been acting different, like he can finally understand that people are people, that we all aren't just pawns in a game. He understands that his life has meaning. You don't have to die to prove that meaning."

"Sakura," Itachi continued. "If only it all was that easy. If only I could just go to him and say that I'm sorry. I can't though, would you forgive someone if they killed your family, everyone who was precious to you. I don't want him to forgive me; I don't even want him to acknowledge me. If I walk through life alone then so be it. It's better that way."

Ino looked at Itachi. "So why are you doing all of this? Why did you hurt my sensei?" she slapped him across the face more blood falling from his lips. "Why are you hurting all of these people if you don't care?"

"That's why I do it," Itachi answered with a sigh, "because I don't care. I don't care about what happens to me. Whatever happens happens for a reason, there's no avoiding it once it occurred. I know that I've done some acts that hurt you two. I know that I destroyed your sensei, Ino. I know that I've hurt Sasuke, Sakura. But in my heart I hold no place for any signs of remorse, everything that I do is for a reason, a reason that drives me to keep on living."

Sakura looked as Itachi stood up looking off into the river. _He's a lot like Sasuke, they have similar personalities. Itachi isn't really a criminal, he's a confused person who feels that he should be in control of his own life, in control of his own destiny. He understood that in order to do that he had to destroy all of the attachments that he had once had._ She closed her eyes. "How do you live like that?"

He stopped as he started to walk away turning to her a he took a deep breath. "I live this way because it's the path that I have chosen. I could have chosen another, but only misery would have awaited me. I have no regrets for what I do. Regret is showing an attachment, attachment is a way to compensate a flaw."

"So you're not attached to anything?" Sakura asked.

"_I love you, Sasuke, I love you more than I love my own life. If you don't believe me, then take that kunai and run me through the heart."_

Itachi closed his eyes not looking at her. "I never said that I was perfect, Sakura, I told you even geniuses have flaws. I guess there are a few things that make me less of a ninja. I'm greedy as hell."

Sakura stood up not looking back at Ino. "I know that you aren't weak. You master your kekkei genkai when you were at. You were an ANBU squad leader. People in ANBU aren't emotionally weak."

"There was a time where I was stronger, a time where there was nothing that was in my way. Now, there are so many events going on at once, it will make anyone break," he closed his eyes tighter. "But I can easily leave all of the attachments behind," he looked back at Ino. "Ino, that's your name right?"

Ino nodded. "Yes."

"Ino," Itachi turned around to walk toward her. "Your sensei was a good man," as he stood in front of her he looked down into her blue eyes his eyes easing up just a little. "He showed me a sympathy that no one else in this village has. His attempt was to knock some sense into me; he only wanted to save Konoha. He's worthy of my honor," he took her hand never breaking the eye contact. "You're going to become a great ninja under his control."

Ino blushed lightly as the hand was taken away. "Thank you, Itachi."

He turned around and started to walk away. "You two should get home before something happens to both of you. You don't want your parents to worry now do you?"

Sakura walked behind him. "Why are you down by the river?"

"I was looking for myself," he looked at his hands as he coughed one last time. "I didn't find anything," he turned to both of them. "Don't tell anyone that you saw me down here, our little secret."

Sakura moved closer wrapping her arms around his body pulling him closer to her. "I don't want you to get hurt. You mean more to Sasuke then you think that you do. I know he says that he hates you, that you know that's not true. He needs you to give him a purpose."

He wrapped his arms around her returning the hug. "I know that. I gave him a reason to live, and it's time for me to justify that reason. I have to find the reason in his madness. If he wants blood, I'll give him blood," he backed away from her to sit next to the river again. "Now go home."

Sakura nodded as she walked away Ino close in tow. She couldn't believe that she ran into him again after all of this time. She had almost feared that Sasuke had gotten at him after his incident at the Hokage's office. He was still alive, but barely judging by the pale completion of his face, there was very little that she could do for either of the brothers now, their lives being almost completely diminished.

"So are you interested in him now?" Ino asked as they slowed down. "Or are you still on Sasuke?"

Sakura looked over at her best friend. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, I saw you hug him back there," Ino smiled. "And he seemed like he was interested in you. Then again, he was coming onto me too. Why can't Sasuke be like that?"

Sakura looked over at Ino as she rolled her eyes. "Because they're different people, Itachi just seems like he understands people more, he's _darker_ than Sasuke?"

"You like _dark _men?" Ino asked as she continued walking. "I mean, he's a criminal, or did you forget what he did to Sasuke that night. There are some things in this world that you might not like, but they did happen. Sasuke is only acting this way because he feels the need to find some way to sort his life out."

Sakura closed his eyes as she remembered the look in Sasuke's eyes whenever talked about his brother. He could hide the feelings in his voice, but his eyes were always going to say that he was starting to understand after all of this time that all of the hate was never going to make him whole again. It was like he was going to forgive him.

_Make the right choice, Sasuke; don't do something that you'll regret._

-----

"Damn it!" he coughed, more blood falling from his lips, his whole body shaking with intense tremors. The more he tried, the more that he was hurting himself. This was beyond the point of perfecting the jutsu; he just wanted to see if he could. Aggravation went through his body as every drop of blood fell to the ground. He was helpless, he was so weak. Why couldn't he do this?

Through the corner of his eye he saw the water of the river rolling hurriedly. On this very bank was the place where he had spilled so much of Sasuke's blood to the brink of him not being able to function anymore. In its dark water was the very place where Shisui had drawn his last breaths, the look on his face as he met him on this bank sent chills down his spine, Shisui's once warm eyes were so cold. Yet there wasn't just negative memories on this bank, back in the days of his youth, he used to sit with Shisui all night until the sun came up the next sunrise hurrying him home to get back to his father. This riverbank held so many memories, and now it could be the place where he could finally call it the end.

"One more time," he breathed, closing his eyes, the chakra circulating through his hand pressing it to his chest, a surging pain going through his heart from the power that it exerted, more blood running from his lips. "Shit!"

"Was that a curse?" a voice asked from behind him. "Really Itachi, I would have expected better from you. You've really hit rock bottom aren't you? You're testing a jutsu on yourself."

Itachi looked back at the man that was in the robe. "Who the hell are you?" he struggled to his feet as he clutched his chest trying to numb the pain. "You were there at Hokage's office. How do you know me?"

"Oh Itachi," the man stepped forward gently touching Itachi's face. "You don't think that I would know you? You're a person that doesn't go unnoticed. Everyone knows that you're here," he wrapped his hand around Itachi's chin. "I've missed you."

"Who are you?" Itachi asked feeling the man's other hand wipe the blood from his lips. "How do you know all of this?" he let out a shaky breath as he felt the hand under his chin touch at his cheek. "Who…?"

"Is it really important?" the man asked as he ran a hand through Itachi's ponytail, the teenager's pulse racing at the contact. "What are you trying to do all the way out here? What jutsu were you working on?"

Itachi shook his head closing his eyes. "Nothing," he felt his body being jerked around as he was now facing the river hands taking his own. "What are you trying to do to me? Who are you?"

"Answers will come soon enough," the man answered tightly grasping Itachi's wrists firmly. "You were trying Mystical Palms, I know you, Itachi. When there's a jutsu that you can't do, you continue to work at it. I can help you with it."

"But…" Itachi breathed, opening his eyes trying to turn around. "I…"

"Shhh," the man soothed. "Close your eyes and just let your mind go. Let all of the troubles that you've been holding in your soul just disappear for a few moments while you just focus on your hands. Keep your mind on your hands."

Itachi felt his hands fill with chakra. "Now what do I do?"

"You let all of your being go straight to your hands," the man answered letting Itachi's left wrist go moving to his cheek pushing his head to the side to kiss at his lips lightly, hearing the teenager's breathing stop right then and there, all of the chakra control that he once had disappearing from his hand.

"Who are you?" Itachi asked eyes still closed as he felt the man kiss him again. "Why are you here with me?"

"Because I wanted to see how much you can take," the man breathed taking Itachi's lips deeply, the young boy slipping his tongue past his lips his chest tightening as his heart raced faster in his chest feeling more blood bubbling in his throat.

He had felt these lips up against his before on one occasion, but everything about this man seemed different as he kept his eyes closed as promised. The way that his tongue fought with his with so much experience teeth gently grazing at the flesh tightening with the intensity of the kiss.

_I know this feeling, _he backed away trying to look into the man's eyes only seeing darkness. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see past the shadows over his face. Kisses by this river, all of the memories of his encounters by this river all flowing back to him as the man's hand held his, he shivered at the feeling.

"Itachi," the man started as he held his hand tighter. "You can do this; you can master that jutsu no matter how much you don't believe in yourself. I have faith in you." he let the hand go as he stood up looking straight at the river. "It seems calm doesn't it, being this far out."

He closed his eyes as he looked away. "It is."

"You shouldn't be out here," the man answered as he placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder. "You'll catch a cold, go home for the night, you can train later. You've already got the basics," he started to walk away. "Just don't hurt yourself anymore."

He looked back at him. "What are you here for? Are you here to help me? Or are you here to destroy me?" his dark eyes looked up at the man, staring weakly as his face paled more. "Why are you here with me?"

The man laughed lightly. "You'll see in time, Itachi. You're smart; you can figure it out yourself. I don't need to give you all of the answers. You can do it all by yourself. You never wanted help before."

Itachi looked back into the water. "That's when I had all the answers, but then you show up and you take them all away. When you're around me it's like every plan that I formulated is never going to be good enough. You're there wherever I go, you're the only one who can make me feel like I'm going to lose."

"I scare you?" the man asked. "You'll find in time that I'm not that scary."

"You don't scare me, you trouble me," Itachi answered with a sigh. "It's like I can't have a moment's peace. Everybody has been coming to bother me; I can't even hear myself think."

"Are you sure it's not because you're next to the place where Shisui Uchiha died?" the man asked continuing to walk away.

Itachi's eyes widened as he thought back to that day, the pain was still deep in his eyes, the feeling of blood still streaming down his cheeks. He could still taste the blood on his lips as his vision blurred deeper his mind blacking out for a few seconds.

"_You think you can beat me, Itachi? You are so dumb aren't you? You know after all of this time it would have to come down to this. We are the only two ninja in this clan who could survive the transition. But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?"_

He moved forward coughing up another splash of blood as the man walked away, not saying a word. The visions of Shisui dead in his arms burned into his mind. That day when he met him a few days before he skipped the meeting that his father had told him to go to, he was the one who could have stopped it all, but his ego got in the way of any reason, but now he was like this. All of the pain was running through his mind. He had to get away from here.

He stood up and started to walk in the direction that he had come from. He stumbled with every step that he took, looking back at the puddle of blood that he had left behind. He had made a few mistakes that he should have thought of before doing, but there was no use worrying. One thing was on his mind: Sasuke. He was all he could think of as he pulled the hood over his head continuing to walk toward the place where he was still laying fast asleep. There was a burning in his chest as he moved forward.

Sasuke was still at home, if he had already awoken he would be distraught. Did he even know that two days had passed by since he had fallen asleep? Did he know anything that was going on?

His steps moved faster, his mind focusing on Sasuke alone in his bed, still asleep. He had to go back to take care of him. He couldn't do it by himself. Not to mention, with that man on the loose playing both sides of the spectrum, there was no telling what he was capable of.

-----

Lost in a maze of confusion, he arrived at the doorway of their house. He could feel the cold air seeping through the cracks as he opened the door seeing the pitch blackness, hearing no noise seeping through. He walked deeper toward Sasuke's room starting to hear the sound of heavy breathing.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked as he touched the door lightly, hearing a cough leave the room. "Are you alright?" he closed his eyes as he pressed against the door harder.

All of this time when Sasuke was coughing before the day he passed out, he thought it was the cold that he said he had gotten over, but it was only getting worse. What would come next: pneumonia?

He opened the door to the bed room looking at the blood that had run underneath the door remembering the little progress that he made. There was nothing that he could to protect him anymore. Why did he even care? Sasuke had it imprinted in his mind that Itachi didn't care about anyone but himself. What made Sasuke even think that? Itachi was still here wasn't he?

Walking closer to the bed, he could hear the gentle breathing seeping through the young boy's lips. The last days were Hell, but now there was some peace to it. He could finally rest knowing that everything was going to go back to normal. Even if the times were getting bad.

"_Oh Itachi, you don't think that I would know you? You're a person that doesn't go unnoticed. Everyone knows that you're here, I've missed you."_

"Who was he?" he asked as he sat on the mattress feeling Sasuke's body move closer to his as he shivered lightly. "Sasuke," he moved down to kiss him lightly on the forehead hearing a light breath seep through the young boy's lips. "If only you knew," he saw the drops of blood that clung to his lips stick to his brother's forehead, red liquid running down the flesh onto the sheets. "If only you knew what you knew what was going to happen to us."

He closed his eyes getting up from the bed looking back at the door, it was now or never. They were coming for him; they already made their mark with the man by the river. No matter how much he longed to stay, the ring on his finger was teasing him telling him that one more moment could cost Sasuke his life. He couldn't have that. He had done what he had feared the most, he had become attached to something.

He couldn't go back on his words, he couldn't become what he hated, he couldn't care about the world that he ran away from. He was a fool to think that this was going to last much longer. Did Sasuke even care that he was in pain, always worried that every moment that they have could be their last? Now it was their last, he couldn't stay anymore.

"_Are you going to keep running away? Are you going to leave me alone again, Itachi? When are you going to face your problems and look at me straight in the eyes? Look at me and tell me how you really feel."_

"I love you more than I've loved anything, but I have to disappoint you," he stroked his face hearing him mutter something unintelligible. "Even if I don't like it."

He stood up starting to walk away only to feel the force of gravity to fall down to the floor more blood pouring from his lips. Why now? Why did all of the pain have to come back now as he was trying his hardest to leave Sasuke behind?

His coughing got louder as he moved his hands together. _This is the last time that I'm doing this. I only have one chance. _As the chakra circulated through his hands he let out a few deep breaths slowly trying to catch it, this was do or die. If he screwed up, then he was going to lose everything that he worked so hard for.

Pressing his hands up against his chest feeling another sensation running through his body, but this wasn't the same ripping sensation from before. He could actually feel less blood bubbling in his throat, a great amount of pain going away. Was he starting to understand how this jutsu worked?

"Mystical Palms?" he asked as he looked at his hands as he brought them away from his chest. _Is this what the books were talking about? Is this medical ninjutsu? _He smiled gently as he watched his hand continue to glow green. _It's not perfect, and it's far from complete, but I can tell that there is power in my fingertips. I will never use this jutsu on someone else, not until it's perfect._

As he was lost in his thoughts, no longer thinking about what he had to do. He still could get off of the ground, his eyes diverting to the blood in the corner of the room: his blood. All of this time, everything that he did was to get Sasuke to join him, but it was more than that no matter how much he didn't want to believe it. He was in love with him, more than he was before. It was on the brink of obsession. How could he leave all of their moments behind?

"_I'll be right here when you wake up, I promise…"_

"I made a promise," he looked over at Sasuke who shifted onto his side his breath becoming louder as if he were stirring. He was waking up just in time to stop Itachi from leaving; it was the answer to the prayer that he had been repeating over and over. He was here now, like he promised.

Another cough passed Sasuke's lips accompanied by a weak word. "Itachi…?"

Itachi took his hand looking down at him. "I'm here, Sasuke, you can wake up. I'm here," he held his hand tighter watching his younger brother's eyes open. "I'm here, Sasuke," he took the hand and rested it up against his chest. "I'm alive."

Black irises opened to their full extent as deep breaths passed the young boy's lips. "Itachi… you're still here… I thought you would have…"

"Left?" Itachi asked looking down at him. "I couldn't, I can never leave you no matter how much I want to. I can't imagine leaving you alone now that we're together again. I made a promise, I was going to be here when you woke up and I don't go back on my word, not anymore."

Sasuke let out a deep breath writhing uncomfortably in his sweat covered clothes, his eyes finally adjusting to the small amount of light seeing the blood that was spread across Itachi's lips rolling down his chin.

"What the hell?" the young boy asked looking around seeing blood everywhere, on the sheets, the floor, stained underneath the door. "Is all of this yours? Itachi did you… what happened?"

A kiss was placed on Sasuke's lips. "Nothing happened," Itachi breathed.

"What time is it?" Sasuke asked moving to rest on Itachi's shoulder sitting up.

"Eleven," Itachi answered wrapping his arms around the young boy, feeling the warmth of Sasuke's body circulate through his. The gentle breaths lightly tickled at his neck as he pulled him closer, his pulse racing. "Why do you ask?"

Sasuke nuzzled up against the crook of his brother's neck, taking deep breaths of the aroma of his ebony ponytail. "I've been sleeping for an hour?" he asked wrapping his arms around tighter.

"Not exactly," Itachi answered his voice shaking, fearing how Sasuke was going to react to the news. "Sasuke, you've been asleep for two days. I didn't want to wake you up because you were so sick; you were practically dying right before my eyes. I couldn't do anything…"

"You let me sleep for two days?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah," Itachi answered still running a hand up and down the back of Sasuke's sweat soaked shirt. "It wasn't so much that you fell asleep as much as it was you passed out. After that I went ahead and I started doing my own thing."

Sasuke's dark eyes looked around the room. "Seeing how much blood you could lose before you die?"

"No," Itachi asked with a slight joy to his voice resembling laughter. "I mean I talked to Kakashi. He seemed upset that I wanted to take you away. He resorted to childish attacks such as insulting my childhood."

Itachi's silence was enough to prove that he was hiding something; he couldn't even hide it from himself. The way that Sasuke's hand fisted the cloth of his shirt made him know that he was aware of what he attacked.

"He brought up dad, didn't he?" Sasuke asked closing his eyes.

"Yeah," Itachi answered as he looked backed away from Sasuke, "He brought _him_ up," he sighed. "I don't want to say anything I know how you felt about our father. I know that you loved him in a way that I never could, but he never paid attention to you."

Sasuke shook his head wiping the sweat and blood combination from his forehead. "No," he took a deep breath. "I didn't love him. How can you love someone who doesn't love you back?"

"If someone doesn't love you back," Itachi continued as he ran a hand through his hair. "Is it really their fault? Can you really blame them?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Itachi, what are you talking about?"

Another fake smile graced his lips. "Nothing," he looked at the corner of the room stained with his blood. "I got Kakashi to hand over full custody of your training; he's going to allow me to train you as long as I give you back. I can only give you back if you want to go back though; I'm not going to force you."

Sasuke lay back on the bed. "You took care of me."

"I did," Itachi answered looking down at his ring his eyes becoming blanker with every second that went by.

"You brought me back to full health," Sasuke sighed as he closed his eyes. "Thank you, Itachi," he moved up to kiss him on the cheek. "I would have been lost without you."

"Not lost, just still in bed," Itachi answered not looking at Sasuke feeling the young boy move his hand to turn his head capturing him in a deep kiss, pulling him by his collar to the bed so that Itachi was on top of him.

Sasuke's hands moved to push up against Itachi's shoulder bones pulling him deeper into the kiss still. Moans passed his lips as he parted Itachi's lips with his tongue feeling the strong hands take hold of his body, the mattress jabbing into his back almost painfully. Saliva rolled down their chins as Sasuke felt his body heat up against a large blush rolling across his cheeks.

All of the passion was stopped as Itachi backed away. "Sasuke…"

"What?" Sasuke asked. "What's wrong?"

Itachi closed his eyes. "Is this what you really want? Do you really want to be with me, or is this all just so you can put your fears to rest. No one ever asked if you were using me to try to get rid of all of your hatred. How do I know this isn't a game to you?"

Sasuke giggled lightly. "Didn't think you were the oversensitive type," he opened his eyes looking straight at his brother, his eyes weren't the same as they always were, this wasn't the usual question, this was real. "Itachi?"

"I'm not going to get mad," Itachi answered with a small fake smile looking down at his ring. "I've been used before."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed with anger. "Is that a guilt trip?"

"It wasn't supposed to be," Itachi answered. "I was just curious."

The young boy shook his head. "What do I have to do to prove that I love you? Do you want me to walk on air? Do want me to rip myself limb from limb? Do I have to light myself on fire while screaming your name? What do you want me to do?" Sasuke's voice was thick with confusion. "If I don't hate you, and I don't love you how do I feel about you?"

Itachi took him in a hug. "Sasuke, I just want you to look into my eyes and say that you aren't using me to get back at Kakashi or hurt me. You know how I'm in pain. You know how I feel about you; it's obvious by my still being here."

Sasuke looked into Itachi's eyes. "I love you; I would rather die than be without you for four more years. If you ever left me," he moved closer to his brother. "I don't know what's going on anymore. I hated you, I wanted you to die. Now, I feel as though all of those years, they were just to get you to love me."

Itachi kissed him on the forehead. "I loved you since you started clinging to me," he pushed the young boy to the mattress again kissing lightly at his neck, his teeth clinging onto the broken tissue from the past bites. Sasuke's moans filled the room, Itachi's hands pushing up the cloth of his shirt moving down to run his tongue across the sweat soaked flesh.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, closing his eyes running a hand through Itachi's hands. "What are you doing?"

"I was wrong," Itachi sighed resting up against Sasuke's stomach, the young boy's breath becoming tighter.

Sasuke's eyes lit up. "What were you wrong about?"

"I was out of line. Why the hell would you be using me," Itachi laughed stroking the flesh around Sasuke's navel, the boy giggling at the feeling. "I was the one who got you into this."

Sasuke let out another moan as he ran a hand through his brother's hair. "I have a mind of my own."

"I know you do," Itachi answered, backing away from Sasuke's body looking down at him. "But I'm in charge here. You have a week of rest before I take you out for your first training session. I make the rules and I choose what I teach you, and due to your failure in killing your best friend, all of my most powerful techniques will be of no use to your development," he moved his hand to stroke Sasuke's face. "However, I can help you become more in touch with the kekkei genkai, after twelve years of life you only unlocked two stages in both eyes."

"Not everyone is strong enough to handle the mangekyou," Sasuke breathed as he looked into his brother's eyes before turning his head gently kissing the palm of Itachi's hand. "Besides, it took me a while to even manifest it."

"_You think you can beat me, Itachi? You are so dumb aren't you? You know after all of this time it would have to come down to this. We are the only two ninja in this clan who could survive the transition. But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?"_

Itachi smiled as he watched Sasuke continue to kiss his palm. "Throughout this week, I want you to get some rest and try to regain your health. You've been sick for a while, I know that, and if you still are, then I'll go easy on you. However, we've got a lot of ground to cover; I know a lot of jutsus."

"But how many did you copy?" Sasuke asked with a wide smile turning away from the palm. "I know you didn't come up with them on your own."

"Everybody copies," Itachi continued as he pulled the blankets over Sasuke's body. "You don't need to get out of bed for a week if you don't want to, all you have to do is relax," he stroked the young boy's face. "Goodnight."

Itachi started to walk away hearing a voice behind him say sweetly: "Aren't you going to give me a kiss?"

Itachi turned to Sasuke with a sigh. "Aren't you a little old for goodnight kisses?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Just give me a fucking kiss," he pulled his brother down by his wrist taking his lips again one last time. "Goodnight, Itachi, I'll see you in the morning," he held onto his hand tightly pulling him back. He was a child again, begging Itachi to come back to him, not to leave anymore.

"In a week, you'll begin," Itachi turned around as he broke his hand free. "Who knows, if you cooperate you might like the reward. You only get rewards when you do well, that's your incentive," he walked toward the door still looking down at his ring. "I love you."

"Love you too," Sasuke breathed, snuggling into the sea of pillows and blankets falling into a state of slumber. He was so peaceful once again leaving Itachi alone in this world of pain that he had been in for so long.

"I know you do," Itachi whispered as he opened the door walking over his blood stain out into the better cold of the night, shivers running down his spine. _One more week until training begins._

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that Itachi is close to perfect, but I think that there has to be something that is trying to bring him down, I think that Mystical Palms in a good example of that antagonist. Also you probably are wondering who that man in the robe was who was making out with Itachi. In Chapter 18 you all will find out who it is. Also the flashback lines about Shisui will come into play soon enough. I would also like to extend a thank you to all of you who have stuck with this, and apologize ahead of time for all who don't (a lot of people have left this story.) This doesn't hurt my feelings, however. I like honesty. 

So what did you think of this chapter? Good? Bad? Want to know who the man in the robe is? I want to know how you feel.

Next chapter Itachi and Sasuke start training.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or anything that is involved in the anime/manga.

**Warnings: **THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A LEMON! It also contains yaoi incest, blood/violence, coarse language, sexual content, use of alcohol, OOC, and the canon is gone. There are also a few errors (mostly in the lemon section at the end) that I didn't pick up, sorry about that. This is also a long chapter so bear with me once again. I hope you enjoy.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu

* * *

Sasuke tossed and turned in his bed, a whole week had gone by, today was the day when it was all going to start. The training that Itachi had been walking through the room smiling about was here. It was more than just words that ran through his body as he wrapped his arms around Itachi's body as they lay together, this was more than a dream. This was real. 

Part of him was looking forward to training. Even though his old goal of wanting to kill Itachi had disintegrated, he still longed for the power to equal him. Butterflies were joyfully flapping in his stomach as he gripped his pillow, a smile rolling across his lips. He had seen Itachi's moves before when he was young, the way that he used the fire techniques that made the Uchiha clan something to be feared. The way that his body moved as he used weapons, hitting every target with great ease, it all ran through Sasuke's mind remembering the days when Itachi would take him to the woods to watch him train. It was all coming back, but this time he was going to be included.

He snuggled deeper into the blankets trying his hardest to get every last minute of sleep that he could, hearing the sounds from outside his door. For the whole week, his brother would come in covered with blood staining the floors. He could hear his breathy cries before he came in to kiss Sasuke goodnight. Itachi wasn't resting for a second throughout this whole plan; he never rested a day in his life.

"Are you awake?" a voice asked from outside the door accompanied by the sound of metal sharpening. "Or do you need a few more minutes?"

Sasuke let out a low groan. "What time is it, Itachi?"

"Nine," Itachi breathed, the sound of metal still being heard. "Why do ask?"

The sound of the sharpening metal created a bubbling in Sasuke's stomach; he was sharpening weapons the night before he stabbed Asuma Sarutobi. Something had to be wrong. Why else would he be sitting outside of the bedroom sharpening only God knew what weapon? The churning caused him to raise himself out of the bed looking around the darkness of the room.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked taking a deep breath. "What are you sharpening?"

Itachi was silent for a second before he spoke up saying a weapon that Sasuke wished he would never hear again. "Sai."

Sasuke swallowed hard, a burning pain in his wrists as he remembered that night. That very pair of sais that Itachi had in his possession right now were the ones that were used to pin him down. The pain of those blades slicing against his skin made his heart race, with fear or rapture he didn't know.

"_The _sais?" Sasuke asked before swallowing hard walking toward the door. "You still have them?"

"Of course, they're part of my arsenal," Itachi answered continuing to sharpen the blades. "I know how you feel about them…"

The door opened as Sasuke took a step forward looking at his brother. He looked different than usual; he had been making a lot of changes over the past weak spending most of his time in his old room. He had been stocking up on different kinds of weapons that he would need through his journey.

His whole outfit had changed from the day that they met by the river. The red clouded robe that he once wore was discarded draped somewhere in Sasuke's room. The organization pants that he had once worn were replaced by a pair much like it that didn't go as low stopping mid calf, the remainder of his leg wrapped in bandages much like his old style. He kept the shirt that he used to wear underneath the Akatsuki robe as well as the necklace, but what Sasuke understood the least was the ring that was worn on his finger, the ring of that damned organization.

"You really eased up since then," Sasuke breathed looking down at his brother who was holding the sai tightly. "That's it…"

Itachi lowered the weapon with a sigh. "Sasuke…"

"Can I hold it?" the boy asked quickly reaching out to touch the metal kneeling next to his brother. "Can I?"

Itachi smiled lightly. "Just don't hurt yourself."

Sasuke gripped the handle of the weapon feeling the weight of it. He looked at the three prongs imaging this weapon in action; it must take a person with knowledge to use this weapon. The amount of force that must have been exerted while his brother drove them into the ground must have been unbearable. It was a light weapon, but deadly in nature.

"These look tough," the young boy sighed. "How did you learn to use these?"

"With hard work and a lot of alcohol," Itachi answered leaning up against the wall the sound of his sheathed sword hitting the hard surface. "You'll get up there someday, after you learn how to use the rest of the weapons."

Sasuke handed the sai back to Itachi. "So what are you going to teach me?"

The older brother smiled as he looked at Sasuke. "I'm going to teach you an important lesson; we can stay inside for this one. It's the most vital lesson for all of the techniques that I'm going to teach you," he stood up placing the sai back in its respective holster. "We can go into your bedroom for this one."

Sasuke followed Itachi into the room watching him sit on the floor quickly looking up at him. "What's going on?"

"We're beginning," Itachi answered as he undid the belt that held the holsters for the sais dropping it to the floor along with the sheathed katana. "I'm going to ask you to join me on the floor. You're about to learn that I'm a different tutor than Kakashi or the academy. I'm retouching the basics to hone your stills."

Sasuke sat on the floor across from Itachi looking into his eyes. "So what is the point of all of this? What are you trying to teach me?"

Itachi smiled as he closed his eyes. "Chakra control, you're going to need it."

"I know that already," Sasuke complained. "I want to learn something new. I know how to control my chakra and concentrate it into a perfect jutsu."

"Try doing Great Clone Explosion with the amount of chakra you exert, you won't have enough to even move afterward," he scoffed. "How could I expect you to unlock the mangekyou sharingan, the techniques that come with those eyes require an inhuman amount of chakra."

"I know how to control it," Sasuke argued looking away from Itachi. "Or did you forget what I did to you that night?"

Itachi grasped his ribcage. "I remember what you did to me. I want you to be able to do that using less chakra. I don't want you to tire as easily."

Sasuke closed his eyes letting out a deep breath. "Like this?" he kept his body stiff, this was the last thing that he expected. He thought he would be out learning something rather than sitting around doing the same old training techniques. A feeling reached out to his shoulders, his brother's hands.

"I told you to cooperate," the teenager sighed. "Didn't I tell you that I was going to reward you if you did everything that I said? You're already being difficult when you were the one who was begging for this," his hands rubbed up against Sasuke's tense shoulders. "I promise that you will learn something after this is done."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Are you lying to me?"

"No," Itachi answered with a smile increasing the joy in his words. "This is going to perfect the way that you learn the jutsus as well as help your sharingan move up to the last step before the mangekyou."

Letting out a deep breathe Sasuke eased up. "Now what do you want me to do?"

"Take deep breaths through your nose, but don't follow I don't to your lungs, focus on letting air out and in through your nostrils. Block everything else out, all of the stress, all of the pain, just focus on breathing."

Sasuke complied breathing heavily, feeling the warmth of his brother's still bandaged left hand on his shoulder, the marks that Asuma gave him still underneath. How could he block everything out when it was all right in front of him? Itachi was his love, his hate, his security, his pain; he was everything that Sasuke had built his life off of. He focused on breathing through his nose, his body calming down feeling the chakra rolling within his body.

"Itachi, what does this have to do with chakra?" Sasuke asked taking deep breaths before and after his sentence.

"Everything," the older brother sighed, annoyance present in his voice. "Don't you know a chakra exercise when you see it? This is going to teach you self control as well as augmenting the power of the flow."

"And how is breathing going to do that?" Sasuke asked in a frustrated tone. "Can't you make me climb trees or walk on water? This is just stupid," he felt his brother's hands tighten on his shoulders. "What are you trying to do?"

"We're going to make this lesson more fun," Itachi smiled touching at Sasuke's cheek. "Send your chakra from your hand," his right hand gripped at Sasuke's left, "through mine. Let's see how little you can send."

"What make you think that I can do that?" Sasuke asked.

"It's a basic technique," Itachi continued. "Allow me to demonstrate it."

Sasuke felt his brother's hand tighten up against his on; the sound of Itachi's breathing filling his ears. The exercise that he was passing off as the stupidest thing that he had ever heard was working slowly, as he felt the tingle of chakra running through his fingertips. In all of his studies, he never thought that someone could do this, send chakra through another person's body, not this easily.

"How do you…?"

"It's simple," Itachi answered as Sasuke opened his eyes looking down at their hands. "I simply move my chakra throughout my body focusing it in my hand; using more of my mentality I can force the chakra through the pores of your body. This can be used for many jutsus, mostly medical."

"Medical?" Sasuke questioned. "What do I care about medical ninjutsu?"

"Don't be an idiot!" Itachi argued letting go of Sasuke's hand his voice raising a little, calming quickly. "You never know down the line when someone's going to be dying and you're the only one around to save them. Do you want to feel helpless as they slip away? You might not want to learn it now, but if you master this ability than you will be able to do more techniques than you would ever think possible."

"What do your techniques do?" Sasuke asked.

"I have to build chakra up n my body to dangerous levels in order to attempt most of them. Amaterasu is the one where it's all focused to your eyes a technique where the chance of blindness is high…" Itachi took a breath. "But you don't have to know about the details."

"What about Tsukuyomi?" Sasuke asked moving closer.

"Tsukuyomi also requires chakra concentration in the eyes, but it also requires a clear mind, hence the breathing exercises," he took another breath. "However, there's a lot more to chakra than that, and you still haven't tried to do anything yet. This isn't a lecture; I want to see if you can do it."

The younger brother closed his eyes. "You want me to raise my body's chakra to dangerous levels?"

"No," Itachi breathed holding out his hand. "I want to see how you can use chakra through my body," he reached his hand out farther as he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "I'm not scared of what you can do. Show me…"

Sasuke moved his hand forward, tremors running beneath his skin. He knew it could be done, but with how much chakra. Itachi said that chakra was used in medical ninjutsu, but too much could also kill him. He swallowed hard as he took the flesh of Itachi's right hand, the hand that was uninjured by all of the attacks that he had gone through.

"Are you sure about this?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi scoffed. "And you said you wanted to kill me?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he squeezed on the hand tighter. "Take that comment back!"

The older brother shook his head. "No," he smiled wickedly. "I'm going to use that as your driving force for this lesson. You see there's something else about you that I've noticed, and I think this will fix it," he scoffed again. "You wanted to kill me and you won't even send some chakra through me."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he squeezed tighter on the hand, Itachi's gaze not backing down. "Why are you being such a dick?"

"Because," Itachi leaned in closer to Sasuke, "I can be."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he let out a low growl, feeling the flow of his chakra moving straight to his hand. _No! If I hurt him I'm just going to prove that all of those words hurt me. Itachi is a conniving prick, he's never been this straightforward. This isn't to hurt him, it's to train me. _He slowly exerted a small amount of chakra feeling his pulse rise slightly at the feeling. "Like that?"

Itachi nodded as he let go standing up. "You did well," he turned to his side starting to grab all of the holsters that had been discarded to the side. "You're getting better as the day progresses."

Sasuke watched as his brother draped the strap to the katana sheath around him. "That's it? That's all you're going to do with chakra control?"

"I'm going to bring you into a better area," Itachi sighed buckling the belt that held the sais around his waist. "You're control of your anger and jealousy has settled down, which was the point of this lesson. No matter how much I angered you, you stayed at a civil level. That's an improvement."

The younger brother continued to sit on the floor. "You're an ass," he felt his brother's hand move to stroke the soft flesh of his face. "Itachi, what are you doing?" he breathed heavily feeling his body being pressed up against his brother's in a hug. "Itachi?"

"You did well," Itachi repeated kissing Sasuke on the cheek. "But you still need work. Soon you will be faced with an opponent, and they will require you to do more than just rely on your chakra control. I'm going to cover all that I know that I am able to teach you without the mangekyou sharingan," he backed away. "Come on, we're going outside."

Itachi moved toward the door walking slowly, looking down at his ring once before looking back up. He had been doing that repeatedly over the past couple of days before he sharpened weapons, screaming slight curses through the whole house, his voice echoing off of the walls, still ringing in Sasuke's ears. He wasn't the same big brother that Sasuke remembered any of the nights of hell that he had gone through, he was trying his hardest to protect him.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "What exactly am I going to learn out here?"

"I never thought you'd ask," Itachi breathed. "You probably haven't fully grasped the concept of what I am about to teach you, only knowing either the basics or nothing at all about it," he turned to him as they were in the middle of the part of the village that used to belong to the Uchiha clan. "The jutsu that I'm going to teach you was taught to me when I was nine by a person who was very close to me," he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "The Body Flicker."

"Body Flicker?" Sasuke asked the wind blowing toward him, his fingers struggling to keep the hair out of his face. "Shisui…"

"The only jutsu that I learned from him," Itachi breathed as he closed his eyes. "Do you need a demonstration?" he closed his eyes even tighter letting the wind toss his hair violently. His breathing stopped all signs of respiration gone as he moved hishands to his side.

Sasuke blinked and his brother was gone from in front of him. Did he run? No, he would have felt that. He had seen Kakashi do this, but usually with a puff of smoke or some sort of warning, this was different, his brother was nowhere to be seen.

"That's the Body Flicker," Itachi smiled from behind him. "It's a lot easier than you genin think it is. With people at your level all they think about is the _cool _techniques. Tell me, what technique of mine do you want the most?"

"Something of substance," Sasuke sighed. "I've had it with the defense mechanisms. I want something of offense."

Itachi laughed lightly. "Damn will you be disappointed."

Sasuke looked at his brother who was looking aimlessly at nails and then back up at him. "What does that mean? What are you talking about disappointment? Itachi, what are you trying to do to me?"

"It's not what I'm doing to you, it's the fact that you want something of substance, a jutsu that a can use for an attack instead of a defense. All of the techniques in my arsenal that fit that description, you already know, you know all of the fire-based jutsus that I know, probably at the same precision," he grasped the handle of his katana. "_This _is my offense, and I doubt you would even be able to hold one of these with those cumbersome hands of yours."

Sasuke huffed turning away from his brother. "And on the subject of hands, yours are still in bandages."

Itachi sighed. "Just do the damn jutsu."

"Did I hit a sensitive spot?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"I have no weak spots that you can hit without hitting one of your own," Itachi smiled back. "In your company I'm pretty safe when it comes to that part of the human soul. Now show me the Body Flicker."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I have to focus my chakra."

Itachi closed his eyes remembering the day when he learned this technique, Shisui's arms wrapped around him as he tried to muster up enough chakra to even dream of the technique. The words that he whispered were still echoing in his ears, the words of encouragement. This technique was the one that made Itachi feel whole, like he was going to be as good as Shisui. The security died quickly.

"_You think you can beat me, Itachi? You are so dumb aren't you? You know after all of this time it would have to come down to this. We are the only two ninja in this clan who could survive the transition. But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?"_

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "How does this technique go again?"

Itachi sighed walking forward. "Focus your chakra throughout your body and stabilize it. Then try to move, but use the chakra to augment your speed giving an almost teleporting effect. Try it…"

Sasuke closed his eyes repeating all of the preliminary actions that Itachi took, remembering the lesson that was evident inside of the house. The breathing was that how chakra was supposed to be harnessed, trying to control stress throughout the body not letting it own you? Itachi seemed to do wonders with it, exerting as little chakra as necessary not wearing his body out too soon.

He took deep breaths, stopping the flow of air all together before allowing his body to take on the technique. All he could think of were the words that Itachi had said recently. He hadn't changed; he was always trying to make Sasuke feel weak. He was the same bastard that he left behind.

"_And you said you wanted to kill me?"_

He closed his eyes tightly as he felt the chakra take control of his body. _No! Itachi I can still kill you, I could, if my heart hadn't fallen for you all of those years ago, and if you hadn't fallen for me._

As he opened his eyes he stood on the rooftop of the house that was next to them, he had finished another one of Itachi's ridiculous techniques, but he didn't get the response he wanted. As Itachi glared up at him, it wasn't a baffled look like he thought he couldn't do it. It was a very calm look almost unimpressed.

"Good," Itachi breathed as he grabbed his sword.

"What do we do now?" Sasuke asked sitting down on the rooftop.

"Now, the last thing that I think is on the necessary list of training styles. What I've noticed about Kakashi is he's excellent at weapon to weapon contact when his opponent has a large weapon while he only wields a kunai. If you can do that, Sasuke, you would be an amazing ninja."

Sasuke scoffed. "You just called a man that you hate an amazing ninja."

"Well," Itachi continued the sound of the tip of the sword hitting the ground filling the quiet atmosphere. "Maybe that's why I hate him. Now come down here so I can test your skills."

"You think I'm going to let you swing a sword at me?" Sasuke asked looking away looking straight up into the clouds laying on the flat edge of the roof. "I'm not that stupid, Itachi."

"You're scared," Itachi smiled as he looked up at him. "You're scared that you're going to get hurt by me."

"No," Sasuke breathed not paying attention to the man on the ground. "And taunts aren't going to work on me this time, Itachi. You're going to have to try a little harder than that to get me down."

Itachi lifted the sword placing it back in its sheath. "Fine, I'll be at home waiting for you, Sasuke. When you feel like training again come to me. I have no time to wait for you and your little spurts of rebellion."

"Fuck you," Sasuke hissed. "You think that I'm going to let you kill me? I've seen you use that sword, it's amazing. What's in this for me?"

Itachi turned as he looked up at him. "For you? You want to make a bet? Yes, a bet. The weapons that I'm wearing right now aren't the only weapons that I own. I have more hidden away in the house. If you can beat me at my own game and you can even make a decent scratch on me, I will give you one to call your own."

"What kind of weapon?" Sasuke asked sitting up. "It's not a shuriken is it?"

"No, no," Itachi shook his head brushing the hair out of his face. "The weapon that I'm going to give you is one that has a lot more force involved than a shuriken. With the weapon that I give you, opponents will fall."

"I know that's an over exaggeration," Sasuke hissed. "You're going to give me a kunai aren't you?"

"You have hundreds of kunai," the older brother continued. "This weapon isn't one that people carry in bulk."

Sasuke looked down at his brother watching the hand wrap around the handle of the sword. He was preparing for the worst as his left hand moved his mouth, teeth biting at that bandages. The white strips fell, the sight bring back memories that Sasuke thought he had forgotten. His hand was still mangled, although still able to move, the bruises piercing Sasuke through the heart. That night filled with blood came back to him, the night where he thought that he lost everything.

"Come," Itachi ordered as he looked up at Sasuke. "Come here and lose the bet that we just made. Come on, Sasuke, come down and take me on."

Sasuke reached behind him to grab a kunai. "Don't use any ninjutsu or genjutsu techniques, this is all about weapons."

"I understand that," Itachi breathed as he watched Sasuke jump down. "I can't kill you, but that doesn't mean I'm holding back!"

Sasuke met the space right in front of his brother, the kunai hitting the katana the sound of metal clashing filling his ears. The grip that Itachi had on the weapon was almost unbreakable as Sasuke kept flinging the kunai at the sword trying to make him drop some hold.

"Is this the best you've got?" Itachi asked pushing the sword toward Sasuke. "You can't even stop the sword from coming."

Sasuke looked into his eyes. "Let's see how well you do at this without your clones to stab me in the back," Sasuke moved forward taking one hand off of the kunai reaching behind him to undo the pouch that held the rest of his kunai. "How about you see how you fare against," he brought his hand to the front again, "two kunai."

"You won't put a scratch on me with those," Itachi smirked as he backed away looking straight at Sasuke. "Come on, Sasuke, you want to touch me don't you. Always like you to make me do all of the work."

"How many times do I have to drive this through your thick skull," Sasuke hissed. "Don't belittle me. How would you like it if I started telling you all of the things that you do wrong?"

Itachi sighed closing his eyes. "Sasuke, this is a training session, this isn't time for conversation."

"I know what you're going to do next. You see Itachi, with you it's always the same damn thing. You never change anything about your routines and it's getting old and lame."

"Lame?" Itachi asked quickly opening his eyes. "My techniques are not lame."

"You will never give me the pleasure that I want," Sasuke breathed with a small smile rolling across his face. "Even now, I have to pretend that I know what you're doing, but you clearly don't. You're weak, Itachi, you're a sad excuse for a human being."

"_You think you can beat me, Itachi? You are so dumb aren't you? You know after all of this time it would have to come down to this. We are the only two ninja in this clan who could survive the transition. But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?"_

"Really?" Itachi asked dropping the sword to the ground moving his hands to his belt grabbing the handles of the sais. "No more long distance attacks, if you want to win, you're going to need me closer to you. Of course the weapons I choose are much lighter," he laughed wickedly. "Remember these?"

"I remember," Sasuke breathed. "Are you going to repeat that night?"

"No, I made a promise," Itachi stated, showing emotions that Sasuke never thought were possible during a battle. The Itachi that he thought he was about to face was the reserved calm young boy who nonchalantly killed the whole clan. This one was stressed out and full of emotions, none of fear, none of remorse, it was all bloodlust.

Sasuke watched as Itachi ran up to him, the sai in this left hand pointed forward straight at Sasuke's shoulder. The clash of metal was heard again as the genin tried desperately to block every attack that was administered to him. There was no mercy in Itachi's movements; it was like it was a real battle. It was like Itachi wanted to kill him.

_Is this a test? Is he trying to see if I can hurt him? Is he trying to see how I would do up against a person that I love and respect? Or is it worse yet, is he testing to see if I still want to kill him?_

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed as he threw once of the kunai straight at him. The throw was too low; Sasuke knew that as he watched the ends of his brother's ponytail hit the ground like dark rain drops swirling through the wind.

Itachi's eyes were on the kunai that was lodged in the door behind them. "Damn, what was a good throw," he looked back at his brother with a smile on his face driving the sai forward hitting Sasuke in the shoulder hearing him howl in pain. "You shouldn't throw weapons," he watched as Sasuke it the ground falling to his knees. "You never know how an opponent is going to handle that kind of behavior."

Desperately grasping his shoulder he watched the blood fall out of the wound. It was deep; he could tell by the pain that he was getting throughout his whole arm down to his fingertips. One look from Itachi's eyes almost killed him right there, through the anger he saw no guilt, nothing but disdain.

"Pathetic," Itachi breathed looking down at Sasuke. "I thought that you would be tougher than that. I'll give you a hint to ensure that the attacks will be greater in damage. The exercise in the house that I taught you could be used in this. Instead of sending your chakra through a living thing, a weapon is inanimate, it doesn't require as much. Once you master this, I will be at your mercy."

"At my mercy?" Sasuke asked looking into Itachi's eyes holding his kunai tighter. "I'm going to kill you, I vowed that I would and you will finally pay for all that you did to me and to our clan."

"Kill me?" Itachi questioned holding his sai tighter. "If you can even touch me with one of those it would be amazing."

Sasuke gripped the sai as he stood up pulling it from the wound. "I'm going to show you that I love you. I love you enough to keep my promise; I will not lose to you. And besides, I can't die during this training session. You see, I made a promise to someone, a promise that I intend to keep. I'm sure that you've promise made long ago to uphold," Sasuke answered.

"I do," Itachi answered holding the sai tighter. "I swore when we were younger that I was never going to let anything happen to you. It's a promise that has stabbed me deeper than that kunai ever could. Although you think I'm breaking the promise by doing all of this to you, it's got a deeper reasoning. I've been prepping you, getting you ready for the road you want to walk. If you hate me then so be it."

Sasuke pointed the sai at his brother running toward him watching Itachi start to dodge out of the way. "Too slow!" he moved a hand to Itachi's chest hearing him squeal in pain from the impact. "You should have moved."

Itachi grabbed his chest falling to the ground. "I… I… can barely breathe," he closed his eyes coughing, blood rolling out of his lips. "Damn it…" he held on tighter to his chest holding the sai tighter. "Damn it…"

Sasuke held the sai to Itachi's forehead. "Using your lesson I was able to push enough chakra through your chest to halt your breathing patterns, temporarily, but it still hurts you doesn't it?" he placed a hand on the top of Itachi's head. "You're finished."

"Just get it over with…" Itachi muttered quietly.

Sasuke moved the sai to Itachi's face gently cutting along his cheek hearing Itachi gasp, his eyes looking up at him. In his eyes was not only confusion, but there was anger as well. Throughout this whole fight did Sasuke do something wrong?

"You went easy on me," Itachi shuddered, the wind blowing at him. "After all that I said and did, you went easy on me," he took a deep breath, the sound still pained. "Why Sasuke? Why are you taking this so calmly now? What were you doing all four years of your life? This was your moment to get back at me."

Sasuke looked down at him. "After all of these years I realize that I need you alive more than I need you dead. Killing you would be a luxury that you don't deserve. If I kill you, I'm just like you; I've wasted my life to murderous intent, just like you down by the river."

Itachi tried to control his breathing gently touching his cheek. "You're too soft."

"Oh?" Sasuke asked as he cocked his head to his side. "What do you call what you did to Asuma Sarutobi and Kakashi Hatake, don't you think that was a little soft? You couldn't do it because there was an audience."

"Don't act like you know me, Sasuke," Itachi breathed getting off of the ground. "Because you don't."

"I do actually," Sasuke answered. "I know you better than anyone ever has. I know that this stoic, cold, hard bastard isn't my brother. Over the past couple of days you showed me that I was right and you were wrong. You didn't make that person up, he's still in there."

"Sasuke…" Itachi started. "What are you trying to say? Are you trying to belittle me? Are you mocking me? Now that you were able to cut me down are you going to look down upon me?" he took a deep breath holding the sai tightly. "I'm not as weak as you think I am."

"And I never said you were," he turned to him. "You were caught off guard," Sasuke sighed walking closer. "And I know that you couldn't hurt me, after you repeated what the promise was, I knew, I knew that it was going to be a rigged fight."

"Why would I do that?" Itachi asked still coughing.

"Calm down," Sasuke breathed rubbing his brother's back. "You're going to kill yourself if you keep getting like this. Not to mention that you could cut your potential in half and you would be ten times stronger than any opponent." Sasuke smiled his voice growing quiet. "But you did lose a bet."

Itachi scoffed. "I'll say. I didn't think you were actually paying attention to me."

"Of course I did," Sasuke answered baking away. "You've got better skills than Kakashi does. The blood running from my shoulder is real, this isn't a trick. Kakashi never throws us in situations where he completely depletes our self confidence… well physically anyway."

"Sounds like Kakashi wasn't the sensei you've always wanted," Itachi breathed placing the sais back into their respective holsters reaching to grab the katana.

"He's an ass," Sasuke answered picking up the sword looking down at it. "Itachi, I want you to know that I really appreciate you doing all of this for me. I know that it pains you to have to spend time with me."

Itachi's bruised hand moved to grab the handle of the sword looking into Sasuke's eyes. "I don't hate spending time with you, Sasuke. I enjoy having you around me. I know that in the past there were times where I ignored you."

The sound of metal scraping the sheath filled Sasuke's ear, his brother standing up to his full height. The cool breeze was still gently gliding across their flesh, Itachi stood still completely comfortable as Sasuke wrapped his arms around himself. So many chills running through his body reminiscent of that night when Itachi came to him, that night of horror and joy at the same moment.

"Cold?" Itachi asked looking down at Sasuke's shivering form. "I don't want you to get sick again," he moved his arm around Sasuke holding him close to his body warmth, the young boy gasping in shock.

It had been a while since Sasuke was this close to him while he wasn't lying in bed sleeping; this was the first time in a long time that he was finally able to breathe in his scent. The smell of jasmine mixed with sweat filled Sasuke's body as he pushed closer to him, the burning sensation of a blush rolling across his cheeks.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked. "Aren't you scared?"

"Of what?" Itachi questioned walking forward not looking down at him.

"Of the organization coming after you? I don't know much about the organization that you got yourself into, I don't know what their purpose was, all I know I'm glad that you got out of there alive," Sasuke looked up at him as he smiled lightly. "Aren't you scared though?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, actually I'm not. They thought I was weak, why would they want to come after me now? But in a way I am, if they do come back, they come to me when I'm like _this_. I can barely breathe, I've been cut up, I haven't been sleeping well. It's embarrassing."

"But you don't want their acceptance," Sasuke demanded.

"No, I don't," Itachi continued wrapping his arms around Sasuke. "To hell with them. None of them mean anything to me, they never did. When I was there, I was losing myself everyday in an environment just like the one that I was in while with that damned clan. Being with them was a chore and everyday that went by, even though I was sitting there calmly, on the inside I was screaming so loudly."

Sasuke closed his eyes as they arrived at the doors of their old house. "But how do you feel with me now? I don't care how corny it sounds."

"Sasuke, when you're with me… I'm free. For once in my life I can finally breathe," Itachi stated patting the young boy on the head opening the door to the house. "I think that you deserve this gift, but I have to warn you, it's dangerous."

They walked through the hallways of the house, Sasuke slowly walking behind Itachi, looking straight at the sword in the sheath. He managed to run away from ANBU with that sword, and thanks to that he was able to get out of so many troublesome situations. Was Itachi going to give him a weapon because he needed the security, or was it so when all of this was over he was going to let him keep it as a piece of him forever?

"Here we are," Itachi answered as he opened the door, the darkness of the old room sending chills down Sasuke's spine. It was this very room where he had first tasted his brother's lips, the room where he used to emerge with the worst bruises on his neck, which he hadn't known were hickeys until he was at the age he was older and comprehended what his brother was doing to him.

Their love first started when they were in that room, the nights where Sasuke used to be so scared that he couldn't be alone, the nights where he just needed someone to talk to when his parents were clueless.

"Itachi," Sasuke started as he looked around. "I remember this room. I haven't been here in a while. Nothing really was touched was it?" he walked in deeper. "I guess when I told them that I wanted everything how they left it they listened. Who would think that Sarutobi would listen to an eight-year-old?"

Itachi opened the closet reaching in to get a box. In the box was the weapon that he promised in the bet with him. It was a small box, meaning that the weapon itself was either lightweight or a joke. Knowing Itachi the latter was probably the case.

"Here you go," Itachi answered, handing Sasuke the box as he was able to muster a small smile. "I hope that it will do, it's probably the weapon that I thought would be the best suited for you."

Sasuke looked down at the box. "Is it a stick?"

"Why are you trying to make it sound like I don't care about you?" Itachi asked looking straight at him. "Open the box, you might like it, and if you don't, I'll try to find something a little more suiting."

His fingers moved nervously as he opened the box reaching inside to pull out what was inside fearing what it was. Sliding a fingertip across it, the weapon was probably ten inches long, the metallic feel of a blade up against his fingers as he delved deeper. It wasn't a sick, it wasn't a shuriken, and it wasn't a kunai. Excited, his fingers danced to the top of the weapon holding the handle to it, pulling it up to the light. He couldn't believe his eyes his brother that just gotten him:

"A dagger?" Sasuke asked looking at the weapon know that it was in the light.

It was the most beautiful weapon that he had ever seen, a weapon that he didn't see most ninja having in their arsenal. It was light, his was long, and the edge was dangerously sharp. The handle itself was comfortable to the hand and not so sleek that it would fall out of his hand. The indentations that were in the handle made it easier to grip in his hand. What made Sasuke gasp was the shining metal of the blade it had never been used before in its whole lifetime?

"Do you ike it?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke nodded. "I do. Thank you."

"It's yours," Itachi answered, wrapping his arms around the young boy's shoulders. "It can be your first weapon that you can master that your teammates will never touch. You can be different than the rest of them. You have the sharingan, you have this, and you're going to have my techniques. I'm giving you a ticket to power. I'm making your life easier."

Sasuke looked at the dagger with a smile on his face, a tear forming in his eye. "Itachi, no one ever gave me a gift like this before. No one cared enough. This dagger shows not only that you trust me; it shows that you respect me. You respect the Uchiha Clan again."

"Well," Itachi sighed. "What's left of it, anyway. We're endangered species you and I, and after I do this, we could become extinct."

"I don't give a damn about my blood anymore," Sasuke scoffed. "Now that I know their true colors I know that they aren't worth my time anymore. They hated me, my teammates hated me, Kakashi hated me, you were right that night. Except for one thing that you said which I know cannot be true. I know now that there is no way in hell that you hated me. This dagger shows it."

"I can't hate you," Itachi breathed removing the holster that held his katana dropping it to the ground. "You're training's done for the day. I need more time to work up some energy to show you more."

Sasuke sighed sitting on Itachi's bed placing the dagger on the ground. "You know, the sun's still up, we can't really go to sleep."

Itachi dug deeper into his closet. "I know, but when I said work up the energy I need, I meant the patience. I need to perfect my techniques as well. After the fight with Kakashi I realized that I need to work on some things," the slosh of liquid could be heard as he pulled out a bottle. "I need to focus now."

Sasuke looked at the bottle of liquid as Itachi took the cap off and took a small sip of it. "Is that alcohol? Are you getting drunk?"

Itachi lowered the bottle looking over at him. "Every now and then, ninja have to hit rock bottom," he moved over the bed sitting on the opposite side of Sasuke. "This is my rock bottom. You see, I have principles; I have some morals, but still I need some way to let all of the stress out."

"Alcohol?" Sasuke asked watching Itachi take a ridiculously long sip. "Why use alcohol to solve all of your problems?"

"Because I've been working on something in here, something that I can't do," he took a small sip swallowing it slowly. "If I can just perfect it as well as I can with everything else I wouldn't need this."

"So ninja drink alcohol?" Sasuke asked looking at his brother. "You're going to get drunk."

"I can hold my liquor," Itachi answered lying down on the bed. "You see those books over there," he pointed to a pile of books in the corner. "I've been reading those books trying to crack the code, trying to find a way to do this. For once in my life the prodigy isn't the best that he can possibly be."

Sasuke grabbed the bottle and placed it on the ground. "That isn't going to get rid of your stress or all of the tension that is wrapped inside of your body, what you need is some rest," he felt Itachi's hand run along his cheek. "Itachi?"

"You're right, that's a horrible habit," Itachi breathed as he kissed the young boy on the forehead pushing him up against the mattress hearing Sasuke's breathing elevate to a speed that brought back all of the memories of what happened after Asuma's attack. The look in Sasuke's eyes as he backed away showed sexuality that he thought he would never see again.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed heavily.

"I know," Itachi answered backing away stroking Sasuke's cheek. "You're in pain right now, I can see it in your eyes right now," he moved to kiss at Sasuke's neck hearing him moan lightly. "The way that your body is moving right now seems pained, the sounds that you are allowing to pass through your lips are passionate though," his bit at the flesh lightly.

"Itachi," Sasuke panted closing his eyes feeling his brother's hands trace the outline of his waist stopping at his hips as he kissed right in between his collarbones, the hair of his ponytail tickling at his shoulder. "Itachi…"

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed looking into his eyes. "You did well," the young boy closed his eyes tightly, leaning into the pillow, feeling Itachi's lips touch his skin again. "You pass."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly feeling his brother's hands travel up to his shoulders pulling him into a paralyzing kiss. Water trailed down his cheeks, his long neglected body starting to feel the tension which it crazed from Itachi's flesh.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, his body convulsing in pleasure. A series of moans left his lips as he heard the small breaths emitting from Itachi's lungs, he was working faster than usual. Instead of teasing it was erotic, short and to the point.

The sound of the wind blowing outside filled their ears as their lips met again in another kiss, Sasuke's body freezing again from the pressure. The atmosphere brought memories back of those nights when he would just sit there for hours with him the sound of the storm going through his body. He missed those nights; he missed the warmth of Itachi's body up against his.

The smell still went through his nostrils, God he loved that smell, he loved the smell of it mixed with sweat more than anything. Fantasies of having Itachi in this room were never enough; he wanted it to be real more than anything. Now as he looked up into dark eyes he could see that it was a reality, this wasn't a dream.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed spreading his legs gently to allow Itachi in between easier. A series of moans left his lips as he looked up into his brother's eyes seeing the hunger that was deep within them.

Slender fingers moved to Sasuke's pants undoing them, pulling them down all the way dropping them to the ground. The cold air hit him harshly as he looked up at Itachi, the smell of alcohol and sweat were strong on him. For once he was starting to smell masculine with only traces of jasmine on his skin.

Itachi breathed harshly as he looked down at Sasuke. "I know that you're body is crying for me," he ran a finger along Sasuke's hipbone, "I also know how you feel about this room. This was the room where you always imagined having sex with me. You wanted it when you were little, but you were scared."

Sasuke swallowed hard. "I couldn't enjoy it then," he took another deep breath. "My body… was too young to respond to you. I'm older now, I can feel it," he felt the finger moved to stroke his inner thigh. "This can come true."

"I don't want to ruin your fantasy," Itachi breathed as he looked down at the young boy.

"You can't," Sasuke answered closing his eyes. "As long as it's you, my fantasy can come true."

Itachi smiled as he pulled at the bottom of his shirt lifting it over his head dropping it to the ground and then looking back at Sasuke. The bruise that was on his ribcage was finally starting to fade, the dark purple color starting to return to a lighter brown. The bandage that was wrapped around his right arm was still situated there, the mark of the trench knife hidden deep down.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed moving down to the young boy's hardening length wrapping a hand around it. As a response, he heard a low moan come from Sasuke's lips as he turned away. Relishing in the moment, he moved down to lick lightly at the flesh.

Sasuke's screams bounced off of the walls as he felt his length being taken into Itachi's mouth. Fingernails dug deeper into the sheets as he rolled his hips forward into the warmth, moaning with every movement that he made. Behind his eyeslids, all he could see were the dreams that he had of this happening coming true, he had Itachi all for himself in this room. And to top it all off there were no parents.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed feeling the hand squeeze tighter his legs shaking violently.

The lips left his pulsing skin, a warm tongue in their wake. Shivers ran down his spine the ends of the raven colored ponytail brushing against the flesh of his hipbone. The feeling of his hair was enough to make him laugh out loud trying his hardest not to give into him too soon.

Itachi looked into Sasuke's eyes moving to kiss him again, hands wrapping around his body as he pulled him closer to the warm lips, Sasuke's tongue slipping into his mouth. Tongues fought each other, desperately trying to see which one of them would win control of the kiss. Itachi won, hands down. Finally in control he pulled Sasuke off of the mattress to sit in his lap, one leg on each side, the heat in between his legs elevating once calm breathing patterns.

Itachi ran a hand through Sasuke's hair feeling the warm scalp tease his fingertips, he was perfect. Sasuke's body up against his so tightly, as their lips continued to fight up against each other, teeth gently breaking the skin, the painful tinge of spit entering the cuts. The genin's body shook in bliss at the pain. It couldn't get better than this.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed looking into his eyes, his lips right up against his brother's as he spoke. He moved to Itachi's neck teeth pulling at his necklace, his hand pressed tightly up against his shoulder blades. His attention to the necklace was short lived, his teeth moving to Itachi's pulse point gently grazing the flesh.

"You're becoming more confident every time that we do this," Itachi breathed feeling the silky tongue rolling along his pulse.

"I've been learning," Sasuke breathed moving one of his hands to the end of Itachi's ponytail, wrapping the hair around his finger. "This is the fourth time we're having sex together?" he pulled lightly on he black hair resting on his brother's shoulder. "And it's only gotten better."

"That's because you aren't so clumsy anymore," Itachi breathed moving his fingers to the gouge on Sasuke's shoulder, the two digits entering the wound, stretching it open. The heat of his blood as he screamed sent chills throughout his body. That beautiful scream.

"Itachi," Sasuke winced digging his fingernail into Itachi's back, his nails running all the way down the flesh, leaving marks in their wake, blood dripping onto the sheets.

He withdrew the fingers, blood dripping sickeningly, landing onto Sasuke's thighs and abdomen. Black eyes stared wide-eyed at the fingers; it was blood and a lot of it. It hurt. It hurt so much that it felt good. It was absolute bliss.

"Sasuke," Itachi sighed as he ran his clean hand along the young boy's jaw line. "I'll be sure to clean you up after we're done," he looked at the blood seeping from the shoulder, it was falling, dripping down his arm leaving trails that resembled ribbons being wrapped around his flesh ending at his blood covered fingernails.

Force was applied as Sasuke was pulled closer to Itachi, fingers gently entering him from behind. A loud moan filled the room again, the atmosphere getting hazy with sick, perverted lust.

"I-Ita…" Sasuke couldn't even finish his sentences as he felt his own blood deep inside of his body, prodding him to now end, passionately clashing with his prostate. Tremors ran through his body as he moved to bite at Itachi's left arm, the ANBU tattoo covered with the moist chasm of his mouth, his teeth gently biting into the flesh, leaving indentations, but not breaking it.

The fingers broke apart spreading him again, teasing him to no end. It was torturous, having only Itachi's fingers but not having him. It was a pain that not even Sasuke sick masochism could get off of.

"Itachi," Sasuke winced. "Please…"

Itachi kissed the top of Sasuke's head as he pushed the fingers in as deep as they could go, feeling the teeth detach from his body, a small scream filling the room. The tremors were now uncontrollable convulsions as he closed his eyes tightly giving in to him too soon. The warmth that was deep inside of his body rolled forward, splashing gently onto Itachi's stomach as well as his own.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, his body becoming limp in Itachi's arms kissing at his neck gently his respiration deep and labored, water running dramatically down his cheeks. "Please…"

Itachi moved one of his fingers into the warm fluid that was lacquered on their flesh moving the digit to his mouth to lick it off, his tongue gently taking the whole extremity into his mouth.

"One climax," Itachi whispered as he looked back at Sasuke. "Do you want another? Or are you done for the day?"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "I'm not done."

Itachi pushed Sasuke's body down to the mattress kissing him lightly on the shoulder wound that he had stretched open wider, his lips covering with the metallic taste of blood. Moans filled his ears, Sasuke's body still trembling from his peak, his breathing still heavy.

"I-Ita…" Sasuke breathed closing his eyes tightly, his toes curling painfully grasping the sheets within them. "I need you."

Sasuke felt his brother's hands push his thighs apart even more. His lips hit his again, his face burning with a warm blush, blood running violently through his arousal, his heart pulsing harder that it ever had before.

The older Uchiha's hands pulled at the bottom of Sasuke's shirt, pulling it over his head throwing it to the ground seeing the mark that he had made on his shoulder, the blood continuing to fall down to his arm to his blood soaked hands. His chest was rising and falling seductively with every breath as Itachi ran his thumb along his nipple.

Sasuke let out a small moan. "Itachi…" he bit at his lip. "That tickles…" he swallowed hard as he turned his head, grasping the pillow tightly, his toes curling tighter. "Itachi…"

Itachi moved to kiss at his neck, his lips wrapping around the young boy's Adam's apple feeling the vibrations as he moaned into his mouth. The feeling of Sasuke's neck throbbing into him made a smile come to his lips. He could taste the sweat forming on his body, the smell was so sweet.

"Ita…" Sasuke breathed looking into his brother's eyes watching him go back down to his erection. "Oh God, Ita…" he swallowed hard feeling a tongue run up his hard shaft his body shaking harshly. "Yes! Itachi!" he let out a shaky breath his toes curling harshly into the sheets.

He closed his eyes feeling the tongue run along the tip, Itachi's hand wrapped tightly around the base. He only brought it deeper into the threshold of his mouth, the moist heat sending electrical impulses up and down his spine. This had gone on for long enough; it was too much for him to take now. He moved deeper into his brother's mouth, bucking his hips passionately into the heat feeling Itachi's throat constrict around the tip.

"Itachi," he breathed heavily as he watched Itachi take him in more all traces of gag reflex gone as he took more and more into his mouth, swallowing around the flesh. "Stop teasing!" he took a deep breathed as he bit his lips more trying to fight the urge to come right on the spot.

Itachi backed away looking straight at Sasuke who was lying worn out on the bed, his body covered in a thin layer of sweat. He wasn't going to be able to take anymore of this. He moved his fingers back to the blood soaking his hand in the liquid.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed. "We're not going to drag this out too much longer," he quickly undid his pants as he looked down at the mess that he had made of his younger brother. "We're going to end this right now."

He moved the blood soaked hand to stroke the hard flesh of his erection, moans seeping out of his lips with every movement, the red liquid of the blood teasing Sasuke's mind. That was his blood on there, that wall all once a part of him.

Sasuke's eyes moved to the movements of his brother's hand hearing the moans seep from his lips. His hands shook uneasily as he looked at the flesh pulsing fully in his brother's hand. He wanted to touch it. He wanted to take that flesh into his mouth hearing his brother scream his name breathlessly. He wanted to taste him.

He swallowed hard. "Itachi…" he heard his brother moan as he completely covered the flesh of his erection. "I…" he took a deep breath. "I need you inside of me."

Itachi's dark eyes looked over at him. "A little over a month ago you were scared of me having sex with you," he took his hand away moving closer to Sasuke's body. "Now you're begging like you need it."

He kissed him on the lips as he pulled his body closer, his blood soaked hands wrapping around his body, the warm liquid trailing down his back, staining the sheets with scarlet. Sasuke moaned into the kiss, the sound of his voice muffled in his ear, a hand running down his chest to touch move in between his legs.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked looking at the blood soaked flesh watching him come closer to him. The fingers went back into him, the same fingers that he had climaxed from the feeling of. He repeated the actions that he had before, his fingers were way too deep inside of him. He was going to cum again. His mind was starting to go through a maze of feeling that he wished that he wouldn't have to endure any longer.

"Ita…" Sasuke took a deep breath, "… chi…"

Itachi spread his brother's legs widely as he moved in between them, his arousal pushing into him. Never had he seen Sasuke like this, a warm blush rolling across his cheeks as he moved closer to his lips. His moans were loud, his breathing almost pained. Slowly he moved closer to him, entering the warm heat that had driven him crazy in the beginning of this act.

"Ita…" Sasuke breathed wrapping his arms around him as he tightened his thighs, waiting patiently for the first thrust to go through him. "Fuck me…"

The mattress started to creak as they moved slowly up against one another, Sasuke's hips bucking gently up against every thrust the he was pushing into his body, hitting at his prostate harshly. His body was no longer afraid of the movements that Itachi had to give, he was no longer afraid of the pain.

"Itachi," he breathed as he closed his eyes tightly moving to bite at Itachi's neck, his teeth digging deeply, but not deep enough to break the skin or to draw any blood. He took in Itachi's scent from how close he was, the smell of alcohol mixed with the smell of jasmine perfume.

He clung tightly onto the sheets feeling Itachi's pulse up against his lips. He loved the musky taste of the alcohol that was rolling on his tongue. The more he delved into the taste, more he could feel of the pulses of his brother's arousal deep in him taking his body to a level of rapture that he never thought he could muster.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as Sasuke moved his lips to kiss his passionately, strangled moans passing through both parties. Bodies tensed as the speed increased, their flesh adhering to one another's as they took each other's lips deeper.

Itachi backed away from his lips slowly as he looked down at what Sasuke had become. He looked so broken underneath him, his body anyway. As for his face, it demonstrated a bliss that he had never seen across anyone's face in his presence. His voice thick with lust as he looked up at him, stating the words:

"I love you," he felt Itachi pull out his body. "Ita… what are you…"

Itachi pulled Sasuke off of the mattress sitting him on his lap looking straight into his eyes. He kissed him on his neck as he pulled him closer to his body, the pulse of his erection right in between Sasuke's legs, the young boy crying out in rapture gently breathing his name. Itachi moved Sasuke's hand to stroke his cheek gently calming him down.

Sasuke let out a low moan as he wrapped his hands around the hardness of his brother's erection feeling it pulse in his hand, the blood staining his hands more than they already were. He could hear, Itachi's breathing increase as he looked into his eyes, his body slowly shaking.

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed pushing Sasuke up to line his entrance up with the tip of his erection. "Do you want to continue?"

The young boy nodded shakily as he grabbed onto his brother's ponytail. "Y-yes, Ita…" he took a deep breath swallowing hard feeling the tip start to push into his body. "Oh God…" he grabbed onto the hair tighter, the tie sliding down slowly. "Itachi…"

The warmth ran up his spine as he felt his brother inside of him again, the sound of his panting in his ear. The pulses were closer than they were before, Itachi's heart beating faster than he had ever felt it. All he could do to keep from going mad was rest his head on his brother's shoulder, feeling his body move gently with every thrust, panting in his ear.

"Itachi!" he breathed one of the hands that were pressed to his back moving away from his shoulder blade to wrap around the pulsing flesh of his erection. Itachi's hand gently moved up and down the sensitive flesh making Sasuke howl from the grip, it was tight, just how he liked it.

"Itachi," he breathed as he looked bucked his hips into his brother's hand, his voice growing weak from his heavy breathing. More sweat feel from his body, he wasn't going to last much longer at this rate. The way that Itachi was running his hand up and down his shaft, it was torture, just like the beautiful torture that he thought that he had been dreaming of for so many years.

Itachi kissed at his neck lightly, moving deeper into Sasuke's body. "Sasuke…" he took a deep breath nudging the stray hairs out of the young boy's face with his nose, sweat running along the tip. "You're beautiful."

Sasuke took a deep breath feeling his body being moved again, his brother pulling out. He felt cold and abandoned, shooting a broken look up at him. "Will you stop doing that?" he was met with his brother's lips to his, the necklace dangling over his body. "Itachi…" he swallowed hard. "Make up your fucking mind."

The older brother's lips hit Sasuke again moving closer to him, fingers entwined through his necklace. Sasuke's breath hit Itachi's lips as he was pulled closer, his body almost entering his again. The look on the young boy's face was enough to make him want him more than anything.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed spreading his legs further than they were before, his eyes never breaking from Itachi's. "Come on…"

A moan filled the room as Sasuke was quickly entered the mattress starting to creak again. Muscles tightened tighter than the two penetrations before, lips clashed almost violently, more blood running from their lips hitting the sheets as well as their flesh. Throughout all of this, obsidian eyes never broke from one another.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed his fingers grabbing the hair that was tied in his brother's ponytail, pulling the tie down just a little bit letting a few strands of hair loose from the pristine condition. He closed his eyes tighter as he fully took in the movements, Itachi really did care about him.

Itachi kissed him lightly on the lips before backing away to thrust even harder, Sasuke's prostate on the verge of bruising. "Sasuke," he took a deep breath.

Sasuke's lower body was full of electrical impulses that told him that this was it, his vision slowly clouding, his lungs feeling like they were going to swell so much that he would never breathe again. It was here, he was starting to give into the movement that his brother was putting into him looking straight into his eyes.

"I-Ita…" he swallowed hard, "… ch-chi."

Itachi kissed him on the lips. "I know, I love you too," he took a deep breath as he moved closer to Sasuke's body. "I love you too."

As Sasuke felt his body give in, the heat of his orgasm rolling throughout his body, he could feel his brother's heat enter him as well. Sasuke let out a moan of bliss feeling Itachi's body stiffen at the same time as his, moaning together. In the after moments, Itachi and Sasuke lay there in each other's arms panting heavily.

"Did we?" Sasuke took a deep breath. "Did we just… at the same time?" he ran a hand through his brother's hair as he tried to maintain his respiration at a normal level.

Itachi nodded shakily. "We did…" he pulled out of Sasuke's body hearing him whimper brother loss of heat. "We just came at the same exact time," he looked down at him with a smile. He moved to rest on the pillowed wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

The young boy took a deep breath. "That was amazing," he closed his eyes moving closer to his brother's body. "You're amazing," he rested his head on his brother's chest hearing his heartbeat. "Itachi…" he could smell the aroma of his sweat in his nose. "I love you more than anything," he kissed him on the sternum before resting on it again falling into a state of sleep, Itachi's arm wrapping around him. "Itachi…"

Itachi kissed Sasuke on the forehead as he fell asleep holding his tighter, his body feeling so weak. Itachi's own breathing became heavier as he was basking in the afterglow of his orgasm. He could feel the stickiness of Sasuke's two orgasms on his stomach as well as on his hand.

"I love you," he breathed resting on the pillow looking over at the window at the setting sun, another day was gone, another day of having Sasuke to himself. And even in the moments like this when he could barely move, he still felt some attraction to him. He was a piece that he would never be able to replace if he lost, he was everything to him.

"I love you," he kissed him the forehead, closing his eyes hearing Sasuke breathing; it was the most beautiful sound that he had ever heard.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I know that you're still dying to know the answers to some questions: like what happened between Kakashi and Itachi? What happened that night between Shisui and Itachi? And who the hell is the man in the robe? All of the questions will be answered. I also know that it seems like they didn't do a lot of training, this will come into play later (more Uchiha torture!). So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Think the story needs to be all lemons? Honesty is always good.

The next chapter the man in the robe will be revealed as Sasuke and Itachi make another bet.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto and never will.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains references to rape, use of alcohol, blood/violence, coarse language, incest, yaoi, OOC, and the canon is still dead and will remain that way. This chapter is shorter than the other one becasue there isn't a lemon. There are also a lot of errors in here that I know I didn't pick up. Also everybody, let's see if your guess for the man in the robe was right.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, Itachi/? (you find out in thie chapter), a scene of ?/Sasuke, slight references to ShisIta

* * *

His eyes shot open as he woke up, how long had he been asleep for? The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in Itachi's arms hearing him quietly say he loved him as he fell asleep. He looked around; he was still there, still in Itachi's room, but in the bed his brother was nowhere to be seen. 

In his search he heard the flipping of pages followed by the sound of sloshing liquid: Itachi. He sat up in bed and looked at the corner of the room and there sat his brother reading through a book with a half empty glass bottle next to him.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked weakly trying to make out the figure that was still blurred by his fatigue, everything unrecognizable.

The figure looked up at him. "Sasuke?" it was Itachi. "You're awake," he took another small sip of the alcohol and then resumed reading. "The weather's supposed to be bad, so I thought that it could be a research day."

"Research?" Sasuke's voice rose to a volume where it shouldn't be in the morning. "What the hell do you mean research? You only taught me two jutsus yesterday, I want to know more."

Itachi sighed flipping the page. "And when the weather clears up I'll teach you water techniques. In a thunderstorm going out there would be dangerous; it might even cost us our lives. I think that you should calm down and take a day to rest."

"I'm not going to stay in bed while you get drunk!" Sasuke shouted getting out of bed grabbing his clothes off of the ground to get dressed. "Itachi, you bastard, I want you to teach me your techniques. Are you going to poke my forehead and tell me that you don't have time for me?"

A laugh passed Itachi's lips as he put the bottle down and stood up. "You know, Sasuke, there are some techniques that I have that you will never be able to do. You're too weak to do half of them and you have no patience."

Sasuke pulled his pants up as he looked into Itachi's eyes. "Anything you can do, I can do," he grabbed his shirt starting to put in onto his body. "Tell me one technique that you can do that you think I will never master no matter how hard I try."

Itachi sat on the bed looking at the ceiling ignoring the young boy as he smiled. "Great Clone Explosion," he smiled an evil smirk. "The chakra that you use during that is massive, higher than you have at the efficiency rate you're at. That is a technique that is used only in dire emergencies; you don't need to learn that technique."

Sasuke shook his head as he looked into his brother's eyes. "What are you trying to say? I can do that damn technique, Itachi, don't you dare think that I can't."

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Oh Sasuke, why do you have to act so dumb all of the time? That is not a technique for children. That technique is not to be used by anyone below jounin level. Hell, jounin can barely even do it."

Sasuke looked back at his brother on the bed. "You wanna bet?"

"_Bet_?" Itachi asked sitting up. "Really, you think that you'll get as lucky as you did last time? Last time it was lucky that you were able to do that to me. I underestimated you, when I should never underestimate the enemy. This however isn't a fight, it's all you."

Sasuke straightened his clothes out. "You don't think I can do it?"

"I know you can't do it," Itachi sighed. "I know you have potential, but one step at a time. You can't pass levels that you never even walked upon. You don't even know how to formulate this, let alone even fathom thinking about formulating it. Just give up and research."

"What are you researching?" Sasuke asked walking over to the book sitting down in front of it. He closed the book looking at the cover gasping in shock. All of this time when he was going through this book, he wasn't looking up techniques to make his life Hell, it was different. "Medical ninjutsu?"

Itachi nodded as he looked at him. "You caught me," he grasped the spot on his chest taking a deep breath.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "This is what you've been looking for. You've been looking for a way to heal yourself. You've been searching for some form of escape from the amount of pain that you're in," he slammed his hand onto the book taking a deep breath. "Damn it, Itachi, you told me you were alright!"

The older brother looked toward the wall. "I had to…"

"Don't give me that shit! Don't tell me that you're going to be alright when you're in pain," he walked toward the bed his breath becoming heavier, his eyes not being able to break from the mark that was on Itachi's chest. "I don't want you to die."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Did you just say…?" he looked straight at Sasuke. "Did you just say that you don't want me to die? Your mind's made up then, you're not going to kill me and you're going to give up on your dream."

Sasuke looked out the window watching the dark clouds form and then he looked at his brother a smile starting to form at his lips. Through the darkness he was finally starting to see what he could do now. He looked at Itachi; the one that had killed his clan was dead. Sasuke was the one who had run him through the heart.

"I have new dream," Sasuke smiled. "I'm going to surpass you. I'm going to make you understand that I'm a ninja."

Itachi looked away hiding a smile, proud to hear the confidence in Sasuke's voice. "Fine," he stood up as he walked toward the door. "I'm going to show you, but you have to promise not to copy it. I'm going to show you the jutsu once and you will see how complex it is, even for someone of my power."

They walked to the door together, Sasuke grabbing the dagger that Itachi had given him. This was the first sign of respect that he had ever seen him give. This dagger showed that Itachi was starting to come to grips with Sasuke's progress, it was a reward that he was not worthy of.

It was cold outside, the wind blowing ferociously at their bodies, Sasuke wrapping his arms around himself. There was going to be a storm, he could tell by the way that the wind blew. The dark clouds were growing furious, it frightened him.

"Scared of the storm before it comes?" Itachi asked looking back at him. "Scared what the future brings? You never know, Sasuke, these clouds could clear up and the sun could shine again on us. All of this darkness could only be for now."

Sasuke looked up at him. "What are you talking about? I thought you were above that optimistic bullshit. I thought that you always thought of things logically, never ooking on the bright side of life. Everything was black and white, all based on what was already determined. You saw the world as nothing but a cold cruel place."

Itachi laughed as running a hand through his hair. "You'd think that, wouldn't you? I have a heart in this human shell, whether you want to believe it or not. You always wanted to know the true me get inside of my soul. Well your chance is closer than you think."

Itachi took Sasuke on a trip that seemed like it would last forever, ever corner seeming like a maze. Every time he looked up at his brother he could only see the pain in his eyes. There was something going on with him, he knew it was true the second that he saw the medical ninjutsu books in his bedroom. This was only going to get worse as the days went by. He could see it in the way that he walked.

They stopped in the middle of a barren land in the woods far away from their home, only trees surrounding them. He could see the look in Itachi's eyes as he swallowed hard, taking a deep breath. It had to have been a while since he tried this technique, he was out of practice.

"This is it," Itachi breathed as he moved his hand. "Back away Sasuke, this is going to take a lot of power and you could get killed. This technique is used to be a last resort defense. Everything within a close range to me could get destroyed," he closed his eyes. "Watch and learn."

Sasuke looked at him from a distance watching his breathing, the same technique that he had taught him yesterday. He then watched Itachi's eyes open, his body moving painfully as he let out a wince.

"Ninja Art: Great Clone Explosion," and with that said a flash of lightly filled Sasuke's eyes, the gust of wind that came off of the attack causing him to move back. A pain filled his body as he fell into a tree, his eyes not being able to see a thing. What a technique! What a defense! As he regained his vision, he could only think of one thing: Itachi. He didn't see him make a clone. Did he just blow himself up as an example?

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked as he slowly walked toward the ruins where the explosion had happened, trees broken in half in the wake of the blast. "Itachi?" he started to run to the center as he looked for his brother. "Itachi?!" he fell to his knees digging through the branches, his eyes starting to water desperately. "Itachi!"

The digging increased, his body starting to shake as he thought about what just happened. Did he brother just die right before his eyes while doing a technique he was so eager to learn? No, he couldn't be, Itachi wasn't the type to die in vain. Was he?

"Itachi!" he screamed again almost crying, feeling so small. He buried his face in his hands and started to whimper. What was he supposed to do?

"I told you," a voice called out. "That's a dangerous technique."

Sasuke turned around to see his brother leaning up against a tree, blood trickling down his lips. "You scared the hell out of me," the young boy cursed his eyes filled with hate. "Do you know what I think happened to you? You didn't even make a damn clone."

Itachi nodded. "I did, the technique has to be done fast so that no one can have a chance to counterattack, there are a few risks of failure due to the amount of chakra you exert," he took a deep breath. "You make a shadow clone, and then once the power of the shadow clone is harnessed, you push chakra into the clone until it explodes, the chakra making a concussive force that will take out any enemies in the surrounding area."

"You don't look too good," Sasuke breathed.

Itachi smiled as he took a deep breath. "We made a bet, Sasuke. If you can do this technique without my help or the aid of that sharingan of yours, I will wear the Uchiha crest on my back to show my respect to the clan. If you cannot, then we will continue and learn water techniques when the weather permits."

"You'll wear the Uchiha crest?" Sasuke asked watching his brother start to walk away. "You will seriously brand your back with the crest of our family?"

Itachi nodded. "I will. If you can master my technique it means that you have the heart of a ninja. That's what today's lesson is," he took a breath continuing to walk. "As for me, I'll be at home reading that book…"

Sasuke scoffed. "You mean getting hammered…"

Itachi looked over at Sasuke, summoning him, beckoning him. Sasuke complied walking toward him not remembering all of the years ago. He never saw the two fingers that pressed up against his forehead coming.

"I'm not going to get hammered," Itachi stated calmly. "I don't drink that much. If you have problem with it, I'll stop…"

Sasuke felt the two fingers leave his forehead. "I don't have a problem with it if it helps. I want you to find a way to save your life no matter how much alcohol you need. It hurts me to see you like this brother, they killed you in that organization, and I killed that bastard that threatened my life back in the day. I have you now, and I'm proud," he kissed him on the arm backing away. "I will do this jutsu because you took time out of your day to show it to me."

Itachi smiled as he walked away from the young boy. "I'll see you later; we can discuss our course of action then."

He walked away leaving the young boy behind to look at the cleared forest. This was the spot where he was going to do it; he was going to show Itachi that he could. There was no way that he was going to lose this bet, not after barely passing last time. He would prevail.

A raindrop hit the ground as he looked up into the dark sky. _I have to do it before that storm comes or else this is going to get difficult. _He closed his eyes as he put his hands together. "Shadow Clone Jutsu," he looked over and saw the clone right next to him, remembering the lesson yesterday, the Body Flicker. He gently moved out of the way watching the clone stand there looking around.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Ninja Art: Great Clone Explosion," he closed his eyes channeling his chakra into the clone watching it explode. It was pathetic, the blast of air, the light, none of it was there. There was nothing but a small disruption in the air. If Itachi was here, he would laugh himself to death.

"Great," Sasuke breathed looking straight at the site where the explosion took place. "Looks like I'm going to have to work a little harder than usual."

-----

He swallowed another mouthful of liquid, the white hot burn traveling down his throat to his stomach. What was he doing wrong that had made him screw up every single time? He concentrated his chakra and he used it to slowly rebuild cells, or so he thought. Was he exerting too much chakra?

More alcohol poured into his mouth again as he swallowed hard, greedily gulping the fluid. He didn't care what Sasuke said, this was how he did his thinking. He was at a state of hopelessness; he had found a jutsu that even he could master. He had been trying for a whole week.

He flipped through the book reading words that didn't even seem legible; this was going to take a lot of alcohol if he ever wanted to get this done. He didn't understand what he was doing wrong; this was supposed to be working.

"_Close your eyes and just let your mind go. Let all of the troubles that you've been holding in your soul just disappear for a few moments while you just focus on your hands. Keep your mind on your hands. You let all of your being go straight to your hands."_

He remembered the man by the river, who he didn't recognize. He was trying to help him, the reason still unknown. He was seen too many places for Itachi to allow it to go unnoticed. He first appeared outside of the Hokage's office telling him that he was going to come for him. Was he part of the organization? No, he was helping him, not trying to kill him on the spot.

"_Itachi, you can do this; you can master that jutsu no matter how much you don't believe in yourself. I have faith in you."_

He felt his heart accelerate as he remembered his lips on his. It was a semi-familiar feeling, the lips clumsily working against him, a tongue that was too hungry for him. He had felt that kiss before in his life, but from where he didn't know.

"Why are you here?" Itachi asked out loud resting his forehead on the table closing his eyes tightly. He had never felt like this before, he had never felt his body so curious to see what was behind that dark robe. The fingers gently dancing across his jaw line still ran through his mind.

"_Because I wanted to see how much you can take…"_

"Damn it!" Itachi stated, slamming his fist to the table. He could never work in this room that they used to call a kitchen. He always blamed it on everyone being there, but now it was all about the man that still ran through his head. The advice that he had given him weren't as memorable as the kisses that he had placed on his lips.

"Focus," he scolded himself for even thinking about that. "You have to look at the task at hand, don't look at what happened by the river," he grasped the bottle taking a sip of the liquid and then kept on reading. He had found the hitch in his methods. He placed his hand up against his chest as he tried to channel the chakra through.

Pain filled his lungs again as he coughed onto the floor, blood pouring from his lips. He was tearing himself up on the inside instead of helping himself. Was there another form of this jutsu that he was doing instead of this one? He suddenly remembered why he hated medical ninjutsu.

"Shit," he gasped as he fell to the floor watching the blood pour from his lips. His body was starting to give out on him. All he had been doing for the past week, what was it? Was it a waste of his time?

"_You think you can beat me, Itachi? You are so dumb aren't you? You know after all of this time it would have to come down to this. We are the only two ninja in this clan who could survive the transition. But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?" _

"You have no idea," Itachi winced wiping the blood from his lips trying to stay on topic, still remembering those hands up against his own, the voice whispering commands in his ear. No matter how he tried to focus it so that it wouldn't hurt, it only continued.

The rain was falling onto the window as he continued to cough looking at the puddle of blood underneath him. They were laughing at him right now. Some ninja he turned out to be. There was no way that he was going to be able to even stand a chance. It was more than a sense of security. It was more than just to prove to everyone that he could do it. It was to show that all of the misery that he went through was worth something, that he got power from it.

The rain continued to fall as he lay on the ground face down in his own blood. Sasuke was out there in that weather right now. He could get sick again, or worse, he could die. He worried for Sasuke from time to time, even when they were young he was always getting himself in some sort of trouble.

"Sasuke…" he breathed looking up at the table reminded of the pain in his lungs. "Don't think if you lose that bet I'm going to uphold my promise. The second that you can show me that you understand is the technique is the second I respect this clan," he took a deep breath closing his eyes. "Just don't die."

-----

"Ninja Art: Great Clone Explosion," another failed attempt happened as he watched from the branches above the spot where he had exploded a clone. He was able to make the clones explode, but Itachi would laugh at him again, poke him on the forehead, and then teach him water based techniques. This was pathetic.

Sasuke took a deep breath, generating another clone in the center, his chakra slowly running out. "I'm not going to lose that bet," he closed his eyes. "I'll make you sob, Itachi," he felt sweat form on his temples as he looked at the area in the middle of the debris, the clone starting to gag just a little. "Ninja Art: Great Clone Explosion."

The clone exploded as it filled with chakra, more twigs soaring through the air puncturing Sasuke's flesh, blood running down his legs. He had to get better at this technique; he had to show his brother that he was worth something, show him that he could still learn.

" _That is not a technique for children. That technique is not to be used by anyone below jounin level. Hell, jounin can barely even do it."_

"I'll show you," he closed his eyes starting to formulate another clone, his vision getting blurred as he thought about how much chakra he was expelling, this was getting to the point where he knew that it was only going to be a few more explosions before he was forced to call it quits.

"Ninja Art: Great Clone Explosion," he called out weakly expelling an inhuman amount of chakra into the clone the blast finally having the power that he wanted it to, the sky lighting up as he took one last breath, gagging gently. He was worn out, he couldn't believe that he had tried it so many times and never once did he get it right.

His balance in the tree was starting to get wobbly, his vision barely able to be seen through his eyes. Tears streaked his cheeks as he could feel himself falling. There was no way that he could carry like this. He didn't have the strength.

He was falling fast, waiting for the impact to take him by surprise, most likely injuring him beyond belief. As Itachi always said being a ninja was all about self sacrifice. As the impact was close at hand, he felt his body being caught by a set of arms. Who could it be all the way out here?

"I-Itachi?" Sasuke asked gently opening his eyes, but what he saw wasn't Itachi, it wasn't even anyone he recognized. He didn't even have a face that he could see. He was clad in a brown robe looking down at him. Eeirie chills returned to the air.

"You shouldn't be falling out of trees," the man stated as he picked Sasuke up hearing the young boy groan in pain. "You could get yourself hurt, Sasuke."

The young boy swallowed hard, his eyes expanding as he said his name. "How do you know me?" there was silence. "Answer me you bastard! How do you know me?" he fought out of his grip. "Let me go! Let me go you crazy rapist!"

The man placed Sasuke on the stump of a poor tree that had been cleared from his technique stroking his face lightly as he laughed. "You aren't like your brother are you? Every time I see Itachi he's always so calm. You're a little firecracker," he took hold of his chin looking into his eyes knowing that he couldn't see his. "When he attacked you he must have had to smother you to stop the screams."

He swatted him away his eyes burning as he looked at the man. "You bastard! Mind your own Goddamn business, alright. Who do you think you are talking about that night like you know what happened?"

The man laughed. "I know what happened, Sasuke," the man stated moving closer to him grasping at the young boy's wrists pulling him closer hearing the boy squeal in pain. "I know that he held you the ground and he drove his body into you until you bled, until you cried. Yet you go home every night and you still let him touch you," his fingers moved to drag Sasuke's hand to a hickey on his neck. "Recently as you have just shown me with these marks. Do you enjoy having sex with Itachi? Does he _stimulate _you?"

"Fuck you!" Sasuke stated as he pulled his hands away from the man. "What makes you think you can come into the room and come here to talk to me. Quit jerking me around and leave me be."

The man shook his head. "Sasuke, I'm not leaving…"

"Why? Are you going to rape me?" Sasuke asked as he looked back at him. "No big deal, it's already happened to me before."

"With someone that you thought you could trust. You knew he wouldn't kill you," the man smiled as he moved closer to Sasuke grasping gently at his neck. "How loud do you have to scream to get him out here to get you?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. _This isn't happening. Itachi, what did you do when you left that organization? _The man tightened his grip around his neck, cutting off of the air supply. Was this how Naruto felt? Was this the pain that he had given his best friend that night when Itachi said there was no other way? It hurt. It hurt too much for him to bear. His hands shaking as he moved them to his holster feeling the dagger that was he was given only yesterday.

He used all of the energy that he had in his body thrusting the dagger forward to hit the man in the shoulder watching him fall to the ground, his hand still wrapped around his neck. The howls that seeped from his attacker made a smile tug at Sasuke's lips. This was a greater rush than Great Clone Explosion.

"You little brat!" the man yelled, pushing Sasuke to be face down in the dirt. "It's a shame that I have to involve you in this, but the man that you report to has been a pain in my master's ass for far too long," the dagger was pulled out of his shoulder, falling to the ground. "I'm going to take you out to prove to him that this is real. I'm really after him. I'm going to kill him."

"And coming after me is what you think is going to make him come?" Sasuke asked as he struggled to breathe through the tightness of the man's hand. "Itachi doesn't care what happens to me. He only cares if he gets out of this alive."

"Then tell me where he is," the man demanded letting go of Sasuke's neck hearing the young boy cough, watching blood pass through his lips, more rain starting to fall down onto them. "Tell me and your life could be worth something…"

Sasuke grabbed the handle of the dagger and looked back at the man with weak eyes. _I used up all of my chakra. This is getting to be too much for me to handle on my own. Itachi didn't get this far into it, and the way that the mission with Kakashi turned out was me being in a temporary death state. If I don't do something, I really am going to die…_

He swallowed hard as he struggled to get off of the ground. "I-Itachi…"

The man smiled, although Sasuke couldn't see it, he could feel the happiness. "Say it again, this time louder," he grabbed his body by his hair pulling him closer hearing him cry out. "Scream his name! Scream it how you screamed it that night…"

Sasuke closed his eyes and remembered that night, he tried to block out what had happened knowing deep in Itachi's heart he was legitimately sorry for that. But the pain was never going to go away, he could still feel it whenever he kissed Itachi's lips, he could feel it as Itachi held him every night. Only three words could numb the pain: I love you.

"Scream it louder!" the man yelled as he pushed Sasuke into a tree.

Darkness filled Sasuke's mind as he felt warm liquid running down his forehead, trickling down his cheek. His mind was going through a swirling sea of pain; his skull feeling like it was filled with cold liquid. All he could hear was laughing as he looked away from the place where he was sitting.

"Itachi…"

-----

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed still coughing up blood not being able to move from the floor. There was something wrong with the winds, it had become cold since Sasuke left. Itachi wasn't one for the weather being a sign of trouble, that metaphorical balderdash was never his creed.

He closed his eyes, the warmth of his blood up against his cheek as he fell deeper into unconsciousness. Sasuke was going to be alright, at this rate, he was going to win the bet and all would be good for him. Everything was always good for Sasuke. Sasuke always got what he wanted in the form of rewards and pats on the heads. Whenever he did something wrong, father would always just say try better next time. Itachi was different. He recieved no praise when he did something right, they just thought it was natural for him to excel. However, when he failed it would result in a scolding and a night full of cheap liquor at his cousin's.

Shisui, he was a far off memory now, nothing but a ghost that Itachi was never going to shake. He was the one that he wanted to be like. Shisui the Mirage, the best ninja of the Uchiha clan, only second to Itachi. Shisui was he reason why he was still alive today.

He coughed as he moved into the puddle of blood face down. "Shisui…" he climbed off of the floor grasping at the chair as he tried to get off of the ground. All he could think about was Sasuke out there as the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed. Sasuke was out there for too long, his body probably completely worn out. The Mystical Palms wasn't working, it was time to see how he was doing.

"Sasuke," he took a deep breath taking his katana sheath in hand wrapping it around his body, crawling toward the door. There was a chance that something happened. He knew that he wasn't just being paranoid. The sword that was attached to his back made him understand what was going on better.

The visions of the man in the dark robe made his heart race faster in his chest. How was he going to deal with him? The words that he had said all of those times made his body shake violently. There was no way that what he said was going to be true. Itachi had to keep telling himself that.

"_The darkness will clear up sooner or later. Your body belongs to me, and you can kiss all of your hopes and dreams goodbye. I now own you, Itachi, and there's no running away from your destiny…"_

"No," Itachi breathed opening his eyes exposing the sharingan. "No one owns me. I own myself. When I see you again, we'll see who owns who," he looked back at the door with a grin. "It's been a while since I spilled blood other than my own."

He walked out the door grabbing his Akatsuki robe, moving into a running pace looking at the road ahead of him. Sasuke was over the edge of the horizon somewhere, his brother was in distress. He had a feeling in his stomach.

"I'm coming, Sasuke," he breathed speeding up. "I'm coming!"

He moved through the forest seeing scattered branches all of the way there, he was close. Continuing to run the path he closed his eyes tightly, his adrenaline was running too hurriedly, his bloodlust increasing all the way. His heart was racing on the verge of stopping right then and there.

"_I swore when we were younger that I was never going to let anything happen to you. It's a promise that has stabbed me deeper than that kunai ever could. Although you think I'm breaking the promise by doing all of this to you, it's got a deeper reasoning. If you hate me then so be it."_

The trees had become more of a labyrinth his eyes getting lost in the maze of confusion. He shouldn't have had all of those sips of alcohol. He could hear the heavy breathing of his brother, the small screams that were passing his lips.

"Itachi!" he heard him scream.

A voice accompanied him. "Yes, scream it louder!" Sasuke screamed again, his breathing becoming ragged. "Make me feel the pain that you felt that night, Sasuke. Let me hear how your voice was, when he was raping you…"

Itachi bit his lip as he recognized that voice; it was the voice that he had heard when he was running out of the Hokage's office, the voice that he heard when he was sitting by the river looking off of the edge of the river. It was him.

"Louder!" the man commanded as Sasuke's cries of pain got louder the sound of flesh hitting flesh, a body hitting up against a tree trunk. "Come on, I know that you gave him more of a response. I want to see how much you can take."

Itachi walked through the ruins and saw a sight that he would never forget. Blood, blood was splashed everywhere as he tried to see where his brother was. Then he saw him, he saw Sasuke on the ground in the pool of his own blood coughing violently, the man in the robe looming above him as he looked straight at his shaking body, laughing vilely.

"Scream again," the man hissed picking Sasuke up by the hair the young boy screaming in pain. "It was true wasn't it? The survivor of the Uchiha clan really is the weakest one of them all. You can't even take me on."

Itachi bit at his lip until it broke, moving one foot forward. His voice rising to a dangerous yell as his eyes burnt with more fire than they ever had before. "Don't touch him!" he moved closer still. "I'll kill you!"

The man in the robe turned to look over at Itachi letting out a gasp of shock. "Itachi Uchiha, me and your brother were just talking about you. I was just asking him about what happened that night between you and him."

Itachi moved closer his breath ragged. "Don't mess with me…" he let out a low breath resembling a growl. "Who are you? Which member are you? Judging by your sick obsession to follow me around I'd say Kisame, but you're a little short for the part," he stepped forward looking at Sasuke's trembling body. "Let the boy go or I'll cut him loose," he pulled out a kunai. "Release him."

The man pulled Sasuke closer as he ran a hand along the bruised flesh of Sasuke's neck. "I don't think I want to," he laughed lightly watching Sasuke wince in disgust. "Is this the beautiful neck that you suck so beautifully every night before you go to sleep? The neck that you bite so passionately?" he ran a finger along the boy's Adam's apple. "I have to say, Itachi, he is cute," Sasuke's neck muscles moved as he gulped trying to break free. "To think you got the first taste of this body, the first beautiful taste."

Itachi shivered. "You sick pervert!"

The man laughed wrapping an arm around Sasuke's waist pulling him closer. "How did it feel?" he asked hearing Sasuke wince loudly. "How did it feel to fuck this young boy senseless? To feel that heat inside of his body build up so passionately."

"Let him go!" Itachi screamed as he watched the hand that was around his waist move back up to his neck, watching the fingers tighten around the column Sasuke starting to gag, his body thrashing slightly. "Sasuke!"

"Why?" the man asked moving his hand from his hair to grab the front of Sasuke's pants gripping at it tightly, Sasuke's legs buckling. "I thought that he would like pain. He does go into bed with you every night."

"Let him go!" Itachi breathed throwing the kunai missing the man by a few centimeters. There was no way in hell that he was ever going to get Sasuke free, the look in his eyes getting weaker every moment. "If you kill him…"

Sasuke let out a gag wincing one word. "Itachi…"

Itachi took a step closer holding his hand out in front of him, reaching out to the man in front of him. "Please, just let him go. If the Akatsuki sent you to come for the traitor, that's me. He has nothing to do with this."

"What a weakling," the man scoffed. "Caring more about your brother than the code of ninja…"

"He has nothing to do with this fight. There's a difference between a ninja and what you're doing," Itachi stated raising his right hand. "You've come for this haven't you? They want my ring back knowing that I'm dead? I don't care who you are, you'll never touch me with anything that you've got."

Fingers released Sasuke's neck moving to his collar. "You want this boy released?" he lifted him off of the ground hearing Sasuke whimper in a half conscious state. "Then you'll have to catch him," he applied more force to his movements, his arm throwing Sasuke in his direction, the young boy knocking him to the ground the bloody boy on top of Itachi. "That's how you like him, half dead and bleeding."

Sasuke coughed lightly moving closer to Itachi's body. "Brother…"

"I'm here, Sasuke," Itachi closed his eyes not being able to look at what happened to his brother. "I'm here to save you…"

The young boy shivered as he coughed again, his body becoming paler as the moment. "Itachi…" he breathed moving closer to Itachi's chest, the rain falling down onto his body as he shivered violently. "I'm cold…"

Itachi took the robe off of his shoulders wrapping the cloth around the young boy hearing him cough again. His eyes glanced up at the man as he embraced the shivering boy tighter. "Next time I see you, you die," he placed Sasuke on the ground placing a kiss on his forehead. "Show me your face," he stood up slowly. "Show me your Goddamn face, you bastard!"

The man walked closer to him looking straight into his eyes his hands moving to the hood of his robe. "You want to see who I am? You want to see who lies behind all of the nightmares that you've been having? The one who took your lips so passionately by the river," he slowly started to pull it down. "You're in for a surprise, Itachi; you're going to finally see who they sent after you…"

The hood fell down to the back of his robe as he slipped out of the, Itachi's eyes widening in shock. The robe hit the ground as he looked straight into Itachi's eyes revealing the face of the one who was going to take him out. Everything was so familiar, that grey hair tied back in a messy ponytail, those glasses that were far too big to frame his face. That outfit that was so unflattering making his frame look far too bulky to be a nineteen-year-old. He was the one that they sent after him.

Itachi took a deep breath. "K-Kabuto Yakushi?"

Kabut adjusted his glasses as he looked at Itachi's shaking form. "Hello, Itachi Uchiha, it's about time we saw each other face to face."

Itachi swallowed hard looking at him. "It's you," he wiped a few wet strands of hair out of his face. "They sent _you_?"

A laugh passed the older boy's lips. "I'm here to show my allegiance to the Akatsuki, following the will of Lord Orochimaru," he smiled. "I'm sent to kill you Itachi, and I refuse to fail."

"That's too bad," Itachi took a deep breath looking at Sasuke over his shoulder. Why was he so late? Why couldn't he have come earlier? He swallowed hard around the lump in his throat that was threatening to take hold of his emotions. Was this guilt? He took another step forward. "I'm sorry, Sasuke."

* * *

**Author's Note:** So what did you all think, you probably all knew that it was him, and if you didn't well now you know and you can rant to me (I like rants!) There's going to be more torture for Itachi and finally another person to take some of the diabolical spotlight off of him. So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Want the person who you thought it was to be the man in the robe. Honesty is always my policy. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto and I never will.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains crude language, blood/violence, incest, yaoi, OOC, and the canon is not a factor anymore. This is also a pretty long chapter (I'm sorry for that). Also I know that a lot of you are mad at the man in the robe being Kabuto, but it helps the rest of the plotline more if it isn't someone in the Akatsuki. I hope you enjoy anyway.

**Pairings:** ItaSasu, slight ItaKabu, references to ShisIta and KakaIta, traces of SasuSaku and NaruSaku, some KabuSaku.

* * *

"Itachi," Kabuto started as he walked toward him, that damn condescending look on his face. "Why can't you and I agree on something for once? Why can't you give yourself up willingly?"

Itachi never trusted Kabuto since the moment he laid his eyes on him. He knew that he was up to no good every time that he spoke. He couldn't be trusted. Why would the Akatsuki send a man that they knew wouldn't do what they told him to do?

A hand ran along Itachi's jaw line grasping at his chin lightly. "Kabuto," he spat trying to fight the grip, his scarlet eyes diverting from the older man. "Let go of me," he tried to fight the feeling of surrender that was going through his body. This man was the one who did that to his brother, he was the one who could have killed Sasuke if he came a second later. This was a real attack.

"What's wrong?" Kabuto asked as he pulled Itachi's lips to touch his lightly, the younger boy pulling away from him. His grip was unmerciful as he could feel the anger burn at Itachi's fingertips, his teeth lightly biting at his tongue. "You don't seem like your old self," forcefully craning his neck, he pushed him to look back at the boy who was shaking on the ground. "After all of this time you've been spending it on this little boy, you've been destroying him, torturing him, raping him, and you expect me to have all off this to be going your way?" he laughed kissing his lips again. "Itachi, just give up before someone else gets hurt."

Itachi swallowed hard as he shook in Kabuto's arms. "What do you want from me? What do you want me to give you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kabuto asked, running a hand through Itachi's ponytail. "I want your blood, Itachi," he moved to whisper in his ear. "All over my body…" he laughed lightly, his breath condensing on the Uchiha's flesh. "The organization made a mistake keeping you alive, Itachi. You can't hide from them anymore."

"That's what you want?" Itachi asked with a small scoff.

"Oh come on, Itachi, you know what I want," he kissed his lips lightly. "One last time," he took a deep breath wrapping his arms around Itachi's body. "One last struggle…"

He backed away from Kabuto a disgusted look in his eyes. "What are you doing Kabuto?"

The older boy walked toward him again. "I've been chasing after you for weeks, Itachi. I saw the look in your eyes while I was touching your brother; I know that you were jealous of what I was doing to him. You wished that it was you that these fingers were touching."

Itachi moved back into a tree which was unharmed by all of the blasts. "You pervert," he took a deep breath backing farther into the tree, feeling Kabuto come closer to him. "You were sent to kill me, not to rape me."

"Who said anything about raping you? I'm going to fight you until you die," Kabuto smirked running his hands up and down Itachi's waist. "You look so beautiful under the rain, especially when you've been bleeding so much. I could heal all of your wounds, Itachi," he pinned his hand to the tree. "If you give me what I want."

Itachi looked away. "Go to Hell, Kabuto."

He smiled sweetly as he stroked Itachi's face. "This could be settled with you and your brother leaving with your lives. If you keep refusing, all of this peace that you tried so hard to keep will be diminished and Sasuke will die."

Their eyes met as the thunder continued to crash through their ears. Itachi took a deep breath glancing over at what his brother had become. Did he offer all of this to Sasuke as well? Or was Itachi just the one that Kabuto wanted to torture sexually? Itachi was always getting tortured, but usually brushed them off pretty easily. However, this was different, only moments ago he was thinking about those lips pressed up against his. That tongue slipping past his lips.

"Kabuto," Itachi breathed. "Don't do this to me. We can have a fair fight. You and me, the one who wins gets to have their way," he pushed Kabuto away. "If I win you leave and go back to the Akatsuki and you tell them all that if they come for me, one by one they'll die."

Kabuto pulled out a kunai. "You want a fight? Well, Itachi, it seems as though your bloodlust is never going to be fulfilled. Do you want to add me to your countless gallons of blood spilled at your hands," he grasped on of the slender extremities feeling the cuts along the left one. "It seems as though someone hurt you. Who?"

Itachi grasped the handle of his katana with his right hand looking straight at the hand that was grasping his. Kabuto was being so gentle with him, a quality that no one had ever shown him before in his life. The look in his eyes wasn't a look of bloodlust, but a look of concern, pupils darting to the ring on his finger.

"Why do you still wear that?" Kabuto asked, watching the sword be drawn from the sheath. "They left you, but still you pledge your loyalty. You really are a sad person these days aren't you Itachi?" he aimed the kunai in between Itachi's eyes expecting a tremor to run through his body, he got nothing out of him that would make him show any sign of fear.

"Who's the sad one, Kabuto? You're the one who agreed to fight an opponent that you will never beat as well as pick on a young child," Itachi scoffed pointing his sword toward him, barely scraping at his arm. "And you were trying to break me. Did you honestly think that mediocre threats are going to get you out of this?" he smirked evilly. "Killing you will be so sweet."

Kabuto looked at the blade. "ANBU sword? My, my, I can't believe your still using trite techniques. I know everything that you can do. I'll have you know that I'm an opponent that is comparable to that of Kakashi Hatake."

"And he fell at my feet when he looked into my eyes," Itachi closed his eyes. "You can't fight me when I activate the mangekyou sharingan, there's no telling what will happen if you face me right now. I want you to know that all that you've done until now will be worthless if we engage in this fight."

Kabuto smiled. "We could always go with choice B; you could always give me your ring, Itachi."

"But I prefer the one where I sent the Akatsuki their scout's head on a plate," the younger boy took a step forward opening his eyes fully red irises burning violently. "Now come…"

"Why are you so bloodthirsty?" Kabuto asked. "You're not the Itachi that I know. You're not even half of the man that I knew. You're a sympathetic weakling that is too busy with vengeance."

He took a deep breath dropping the katana, the point hitting the ground. "The Itachi Uchiha that you know is dead," he started to laugh lightly. "I died that night when I met him again. I realized that my life is for once meant to be something more than just going with that damn organization. Maybe I'm supposed to be here right now."

"That's nonsense," Kabuto barked. "Once a member of Akatsuki, always a member, you're never going to forget what they did to you. You're never going to forget what they put you through, the torture. Just like you won't forget ANBU, or Kakashi Hatake, or your father," he took a deep breath. "Or Shisui Uchiha…"

Itachi's grip on the word loosened as he heard the name. That night was a mistake. He shouldn't have come to him. He should have just gone home, but he was too good to his friend. Then he was holding him underwater, the bubbles not stopping from rising to the surface. Shisui was the reason why he left the village; he was the reason why he went mad that night. He failed him. He still failed him while standing here looking at Kabuto. He was never going to amount to anything.

"Leave him out of this," Itachi growled lifting the sword again.

"I can see you're very fragile, you're confused. You want to know whether you're strong or you're weak. I want to see how much strength you retained. You know that it wasn't Orochimaru or my choice to let you go," Kabuto answered looking over at Sasuke. "But you see… Orochimaru wanted you as his new container."

"Well isn't that great for him," Itachi took a deep breath.

"You don't get it," Kabuto sighed looking away from the young boy. "The reason they kicked you out. Don't you know why they did that to you, Itachi? Don't you know why they put you through this torture…?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Itachi asked his eyes burning, a flash of lightning accenting his anger as he looked upon the medical ninja. "They let me go to make better ties with that bastard that you call a master. He didn't want me around, I was too strong for him to handle. That's why they let me go? They wanted to make me sad. But I'm not sad, Kabuto, I'm far from it," he dropped the sword starting to form hand signs. "I'm going to kill you…"

Kabuto's dark eyes widened as he noticed the last seal. "A tiger seal?" he started to back away. "Shit!"

Itachi took a deep breath. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu," even in the rain, it was still strong enough to hold soaring straight at Kabuto as he exhaled all of the chakra he built up in his lungs.

Feet moved quickly along the wet debris from the blast that Sasuke had caused earlier. Watching Kabuto stumble made elation bubble through his body, heat roiling in the base of his spine. Was he weak? Far from it. This man who was a fair opponent for Kakashi was nothing in front of him. He was just another fool.

"Are you done with me?" Itachi asked as he pulled out a kunai holding the handle tightly. "I don't think you know what you're messing with, Kabuto," he placed the kunai in his mouth as he ran up to him grabbing the sword along the way. The thought of Kabuto's blood staining his flesh made his mouth salivate. Oh God, he couldn't wait to feel that warmth.

As he moved closer Kabuto started making hand signs. "I have tricks too," he tried to get his technique into the process of working, feeling his hands being pushed apart resting up against the tree that was behind him. "No way in Hell."

He heard the ratcheted breath of another in his ears, Itachi's chest puffing in and out painfully. Blood ran down his lips as he looked straight into the older ninja's eyes. The only word that Kabuto could fathom as he looked deep within those irises was _Sasuke_. Through Itachi's peripheral vision he was looking back at the shivering boy and then silently cursing himself for all that he had done to the boy.

"What's that look in your eyes?" Kabuto asked as he wriggled in Itachi's grip. "Are you feeling sorry for something that you did? Are you finally finding a fault in your personality?" he laughed as he looked at Itachi. "You think that you were worthy of being with those ninja. You were once someone, but that boy that you've become infatuated with is slowing you down."

"Shut up!" Itachi snapped his hand, moving to grasp Kabuto's neck pushing him deeper into the tree; his heart was pumping harder than ever as the rain fell aggressively up against the ground. "I have worked too long and too hard for this moment to have some arrogant bastard like you mess it all up. For four years I've been trying to make this kid into something worth honoring, and I'm not going to let someone like you take that away from me or him," he tightened his grip hearing Kabuto gag slightly. "I'll tell you what I told Kakashi, if you get in the way of what's going on with me and Sasuke, I will have no second thoughts about killing you. Do I make myself clear?"

He moved his hand to the side thrusting Kabuto into another tree, his body hitting face first, waterfalls of blood falling to the ground. A smile tugged at the corners of Itachi's lips as he looked at what had happened to the man that Orochimaru called a right hand man. His eyes never leaving the blood he walked forward.

"Do you regret coming now, Kabuto?" Itachi asked his voice filled with glee.

A cough filled the air. "When you find emotions, they're sick and twisted. Do you feel no end to your sadism? I never thought you would be one to break when they pushed you around. The Itachi Uchiha I knew…"

"Is dead," Itachi answered. "This is the new me, and this is how I will remain until someone shows me that I can feel otherwise. Kabuto, you thought that you could walk in here, almost rape my brother, and then I'd give you everything that you wanted? You're dumber than I thought you were."

"I-Itachi," he breathed. "It's useless. Even if you destroy me, one by one they'll come for you. It would be in your best interest to surrender to me before they send someone stronger to come here and claim you. If you really cared about that boy over there on the ground dying in front of you, you'd give up now."

Itachi looked up at the pain falling onto him taking a deep breath. "No, I don't die as easily as you want me to. I won't give in because you want me to. I won't turn my back on Sasuke."

"_Itachi, if you do take him, I want you to promise me one thing. Through all of your adventures with him, even with Akatsuki and Orochimaru hot on your trail, promise me that you won't let him get hurt. Say that you'll cherish him like the soul that he is. Promise me, Itachi."_

"I'm not going to let you walk all over me like you walked all over Akatsuki," Itachi grasped his sword pointing it at the nineteen-year-old. "They might have blinded me with their poison, but unlike the rest, I found the antidote."

"This boy…?" Kabuto took a deep breath his flesh touching the blade lightly nicking his skin his body not showing any signs of pain. "He means something to you. You're getting defensive."

Itachi moved away from him, the scratching sound of metal touching the material of the sheath. Step by step, he moved closer to the body that was on the side shaking violently, harsh breaths escaping his lips as blood lacquered his face. It burned him, more than a knife ever could. Was he even still with him?

"Sasuke won't survive all of that, Itachi," Kabuto muttered quietly as he looked straight at the work that he had done to Sasuke. "He was out of chakra when I met with him. There's no hope of cell regeneration, there's no way to even know if he has a concussion. You're going to lose him."

Itachi brought Sasuke into his arms feeling the body heat starting to leave his veins, his breath becoming more and more difficult. Sasuke was leaving him slowly, his body starting to give out. He was so cold, so wet, his dark hair adhering to his face as he was losing all color in his face, his lips lacquered with blood that continued to drip with every breath. He was death incarnate.

"If he dies," Itachi whispered. "If he dies Kabuto, I'm going to kill you."

"Is that attachment?" Kabuto asked in that damn condescending manner resting up against the tree. "You could have just handed yourself over. Someone would have come for your brother."

Itachi ran his fingers through Sasuke's hair closing his eyes tightly as if he were fighting tears. No matter how much a deep corner of his heart was telling him to cry, he couldn't. He wasn't going to allow Kabuto to win that easily. All he had to do was get away from him before it was too late.

"One day, Kabuto, I hope you know what it feels like you have someone respect you. It's a wonderful feeling for those of us who have been kicked around by life. It gives you reason when you thought there was none, and it opens your eyes to what you always wanted."

He laughed. "Lord knows I want to go home and fuck my brother every night."

"That's not what I'm talking about Kabuto," Itachi turned and looked at the bleeding medical ninja. "All of your life you were pushed around. Don't you think I know what happened to you when you were a child? And then you went off with Orochimaru, you never had a life of your own."

"And you did _Uchiha Prodigy?_" he took a deep breath looking at the shivering child. "Orochimaru wants a new container after this body expires. That boy that you hold in your hands has been of some interest. The hate and disdain that is inside of that boy's body, it's unbearable. All of it toward you, he resents you, Itachi, he detests you for what you did to his clan. And he wants to spill your blood."

"Shut up!" Itachi hissed looking back at him. "If you touch him, I will kill you and send your bloody mangled body right to Orochimaru's village. I don't want you to be here after him, you want me. You want this ring on my finger, you want the blood that flows in my veins," he took a deep breath. "But most importantly… they sent you for the fox."

Kabuto gasped. "How did you…?"

"I know how the Akatsuki works, Kabuto, I was with them for years until they kicked me out. They want all of the tailed beasts; they want to harness that power for themselves. But I'm not going to let them."

He started to walk away from the medical ninja hearing his deep labored breathing. "Aren't you going to kill me?"

"Now Kabuto, why would I kill you when I haven't had my fun yet?" Itachi snickered as he continued walking. "Besides, you're pitiful, for all of the talk that you did while you were in that robe seems to be selling you short. You can't beat me on your own, Kabuto. When I get Sasuke alive and train him to fight like me you won't be able to handle it. There's nothing that you can do to stop us, all of your techniques will be perceived and copied. You're going to die, Yakushi…"

He walked out of sight from Kabuto the older ninja coughing loudly, his face turned away from Itachi. The younger ninja had won this round with ease, running away with that damn brat. If Kabuto was going to win any of these battles, he was going to have to find another source of power, someone who could do damage to Sasuke.

"Just you wait Itachi, I'm not an opponent that will be so easily beaten," he looked trough the ruin of the trees, the rain falling harder. "There is at least on soul in Konoha that hates you for what you did. Just one…"

-----

"Where is Sasuke?" Sakura asked as looking into her sensei's eyes. "He's been away for too long for me to even think that he's coming back," closing her eyes she fought the tears. "Kakashi-sensei, where is Sasuke?"

Kakashi looked out the window. "Sakura…" he looked back at her. "Sasuke asked to take a break from us. He left here as an emotional wreck, coughing, wheezing, he looked like he was on the verge of death," he closed his eyes tightly remembering what happened a week ago. Sasuke was going with that man.

All of this time, since the day that he saw Itachi in the rain, he was trying to prevent this from happening. He gave up everything to make sure that brat didn't win this fight. Yet no matter how much he tried he was never going to be good enough to stop Itachi. He was too strong for anyone to fight, and he was the only one who was starting to reach Sasuke.

"I shouldn't bring up these subjects," Sakura smiled weakly. "When do you get out of here, sensei? So you, Naruto, and I can be a team again. Then we could get Sasuke back and we can all be happy again."

"It's not that easy," he looked away from her. "If you read that clipboard over there you would know. The psychological damage that Itachi's genjutsu caused is making me unfit to be around you. They believe that I may act violently or I might let other emotions get in the way of my training."

"Psychological?" Sakura looked at her sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, what are you talking about? What do you mean that you won't be able to teach us? What happened to you? What did Itachi do?"

As he was about to speak again the door opened. "Can I come back in yet? Or are you still angry?"

Kakashi looked up to see a familiar face in the doorway, it was Gai. Obediently he had been staying out of the room for as long as Kakashi had asked him to, never coming in to say a word. He thought that Kakashi was still bitter. Every time that Kakashi asked him too something he was always right there to do it, he never asked questions, he just complied.

"Of course you can come in," Kakashi said happily, looking over at Sakura. "Sakura, you know Gai, right?"

She looked over at the jounin in the doorway. "Pleased to meet you, Gai-sensei," she stood up with a smile. "I'll leave you two to talk amongst yourselves," she walked toward the door, muttering a small farewell to Gai.

"That's a good kid you got there, Kakashi," Gai smiled walking toward the bed. "She came to see you. She's been waiting to do that for a while, but the doctors said you were in _unstable condition._"

Kakashi scoffed. "That's one hell of an understatement."

"Kakashi," Gai stated as he watched the other jounin avoid his glance. "What do you see when you close your eyes?"

"What kind of question is that?" Kakashi asked looking at Gai.

Gai's eyes filled with a seriousness that was too heavy to be coming from him. "I read the files, Kakashi; I know what's going on in your head. I've also heard the screams as I sat outside your door. I want to know what you saw that made you scream like that."

Kakashi scoffed. "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm your friend, Kakashi," Gai answered placing a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "I care because I was scared that through those days where you were unconscious, I thought that I lost you forever. Kakashi, you scared the hell out of me back there," he shook his head. "Why did you go after Itachi?"

Kakashi instantly thought of Asuma, the last time that he saw him, he asked him that question. Kakashi thought nothing of it and pushed him down the stairs hurting him. Now Asuma was in another room in this building fighting for his life, the wound from Itachi's katana deep in his abdomen.

"I thought I could beat him," he looked away from his comrade. "I don't know what I was thinking. I just didn't want to lose someone because I was being too noble. I vowed to protect my team. Those who turn their back on their friends are worse than trash, Gai."

Gai held his hand. "What do you see? What did you see in those weeks of torture? Did you repeatedly see the illusion that he gave you when you collapsed, or was it complete darkness?"

"I saw," Kakashi took a deep breath. "I saw Sasuke, and him… they were together and no matter how loud I screamed or plead, Sasuke was going farther and farther away. I was losing him… just like I lost Obito…"

"Kakashi," Gai started as he held his hand tighter. "Where is Sasuke now?"

Kakashi took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. "He went with Itachi."

"You let him go with that man?" Gai asked looking at Kakashi, his body now shaking. "What the hell were you thinking? That's what he wanted the whole time; you just gave him what he wanted!"

"Gai," Kakashi stated quietly. "What was I supposed to do? Tell me, what would you do if your student came into your hospital room and told you that he never wanted to see you again? That all that you did for him was a waste of his time…"

Gai smiled. "You don't have Neji Hyuuga on your team."

"I'm serious," the weakened jounin continued. "Sasuke came in here and broke down. I was helpless against him, I couldn't chase after him," he took a deep breath his eyes closing. "I gave everything to him and he just threw me away…"

"Everything?" Gai asked raising an eyebrow.

"Look at the file on the table," Kakashi sighed, pointing a finger at it. "They gave it to me this morning," he looked out the window seeing the rain fall down. "You'll see what I mean when I say _everything_."

Lifting the file, Gai perused through the pages. The words had pierced him through the chest. Heavy psychological damage, weak leg muscles, heart weakened with irregularities in rhythm, all of which were pressed onto the paper with black pen, the smell of the ink could still be inhaled. He looked through the words, seeing his brain scans seeing the way that the violent changes in respiration and heartbeat were all due to those changes, upsets were visible in there as well. What made Gai's heart wrench the most was the fact that at the bottom there was a note from the Hokage that allowed Kakashi to take time off. He knew what that meant: Kakashi was going to be out of commission, he was no longer a ninja.

"Kakashi?" Gai asked, looking at his shivering friend. "They won't let you go on any missions?"

"They think I'm going to hurt myself or put one of my students in danger. Until the mental images stop, I'm not supposed to go through any stressful situations, they think that I'm going to hurt myself," Kakashi took a deep breath grasping the sheets tightly in his hands.

"That ungrateful brat!" Gai hissed as he looked at Kakashi's shivering. "Kakashi? Kakashi what's going on? Why are you shaking like that?"

Kakashi closed his eyes as he fell to the mattress, facing the window, his body continuing to shake. "The images in my head, they won't leave me alone," he took a deep breath. "They say I can't be alone, Gai, they're not going to let me live all by myself."

Gai held his hand tightly as Kakashi shook more. "Then stay with me," he tightened his grip as Kakashi's eyes closed in pain, the EKG racing. "I owe it to you after all that you've been through."

The younger jounin looked up at his friend through watery eyes. "Thank you, Gai," he took a deep breath. "You're a bigger man than I thought you were," he coughed once, sweat forming at his temples. "Thank you…"

His grip loosened on Gai's hand as he thought about what Itachi had said to him. All of the words that he said couldn't have belonged to him, they were someone else's. This Itachi spoke of love and caring for Sasuke, the Itachi that Sasuke was trying to kill was never this emotional. There was some care to Itachi's voice as he spoke of the boy, he was precious to him. He was going to give his life for him; Sasuke was changing one of the most dangerous criminals in the Bingo Book, all because he showed him attention that Itachi had always longed for.

_You really are different, Itachi, _he fell deeper into unconsciousness feeling the warmth of Gai's hand. _Take care of him; cherish him, allow Sasuke to stay whole…_

-----

Sakura picked up the phone, gently dialing the number. Naruto hadn't answered her in a week, she was starting to fear for his life. The last time that he was with her all he could talk about was Sasuke. Then as he went off into the rain when Sasuke came to visit Kakashi he was never seen again. He locked himself into his apartment and stayed there the whole time.

Every time she called, it went to the answering machine as usual. He had to be sitting right next to it hearing every message that she left. She tried all the alternatives, she tried making Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji leave messages, but it was no use. No matter what Naruto wasn't going to give in as easily. He had been ignoring them.

"Damn it," she cursed, hanging up the phone, digging into her pocket for more change. "Why won't you pick up?"

She heard footstep approach her through the hallway of the hospital. "H-hello?" she heard them continue. She was being trapped by them. Her heart raced in her chest as she started to run, her feet moving quickly.

She continued to race down the hallway trying to find another way to the front to get home, hoping that she was going to run into someone who could save her from the noises. The feet sped up as well; they seemed to be outrunning her, coming too close.

"Stop following me!" she yelled as she continued running feeling a hand wrap around her wrist. "Let go!"

The voice laughed. "Relax," she turned to him seeing his face. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just have a question to ask," he moved closer to her. "You know Sasuke Uchiha, right?"

She closed her eyes tightly. "Who are you?"

"Oh, forgive my rudeness," he took a deep breath. "My name is Kabuto Yakushi. I was assigned by Konoha to do some work on a criminal that has been running amok wrecking havoc on our villagers," he adjusted his glasses. "Do you know Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Why is that important?" she asked starting to walk away from him, pulling her wrist free. "You said you have to do work on a criminal, Sasuke is not a criminal so leave him alone."

Kabuto smiled walking forward. "You're Sakura Haruno, correct? On Team 7 along with Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Kakashi Hatake? I want you to tell me what you know about what happened the night when Sasuke was raped," he laughed lightly. "The question that I should ask is if you know Itachi Uchiha."

Sakura stopped in her tracks. "We aren't supposed to touch him."

"I have my mission," Kabuto answered with a smile. "I know that we aren't supposed to, but the Hokage himself had told me that I have to take him out. He is becoming too much of a hassle and who knows who he'll bring in," he walked up to her. "And he wants to kill Naruto."

"I know that's not true," she turned to him. "If he wanted to do that, then why hasn't he done it yet? What are you trying to do to me? I'm not going to interfere in this."

"Sakura," he took her hands gently looking into her eyes. "You can be an excellent medical ninja; your techniques aren't half bad. If you can harness them you could be one of the best. I am a top medical ninja. My stills are unmatchable, but you could match it if you want to."

"Are you offering a position to teach me?" Sakura asked looking into his eyes. "If I spy on Sasuke's behavior then you'll teach me. And what about Naruto? What are you going to do to him?"

Kabuto smiled. "I'll give you the details later," he took her hand again starting to walk away. "Come with me, Sakura. When we're alone I can explain it more. Let's get away from this place," he smiled at her watching her smile back.

"Okay," she smiled as she looked into his dark eyes taking his hand. "Kabuto," she looked back at the pay phone taking a deep breath. _I'm going to save you, Naruto. I promise. And I'm going to stop Itachi's plan before it gets too deep into it._

She walked forward with Kabuto feeling a sense of safety in his hand. A hate for Itachi was starting to burn in her stomach. Itachi took Kakashi's life, he injured Asuma, he attacked Sasuke, and now he was killing Naruto. He was going to pay.

-----

He swallowed another mouthful of alcohol, trying to block out the winces that were seeping from Sasuke's lips. Blood, more blood than he had ever seen come from Sasuke was on the floor leaving a trail from the bed to the woods where they had met up. The rain cleared the blood trail, the water gently brushing the blood to the side it covered their tracks. Couldn't it wash the pain to the side?

Flesh quivered as he glanced through the corner of his eye, his body thrashing slightly from side to side. He was not at peace, he was far from it. The marks that Kabuto had left him with were staining his sides, the blood running onto the sheets. All he could do was sit here and watch him die. He was helpless.

All he could think about while looking at the pale skin, the stray hairs framing his face, the blood running down his cheeks were his mistakes. All he could see when he looked at this boy was Shisui. The day that he died he looked just like Sasuke did now; he wasn't given the peaceful look in his face. He looked tortured, he looked battered, and Itachi was the one who did that to him. It was unfortunate. He looked down at the kanji that was on his ring thinking about the way that death was in vain. He was caged.

"_That's nonsense, once a member of Akatsuki, always a member; you're never going to forget what they did to you. You're never going to forget what they put you through, the torture. Just like you won't forget ANBU, or Kakashi Hatake, or your father, or Shisui Uchiha…"_

He closed his eyes tightly as he thought about all that he had said. ANBU, torture, Kakashi, pain, father, heartbreak, Shisui, failure, it was all so clear now. His life was nothing but a quest to see whether he was strong enough and he was slowly falling behind, becoming out of step. Everything up to this point was running through his mind, Shisui's death becoming a reality again.

"Damn," he breathed taking a long sip of alcohol swallowing it quickly, the force of his throat muscles making him feel like he was suffocating. It burnt his chest as he put the bottle down, his eyes watering from the liquid hot heat. "Damn," he looked back at Sasuke's body the sound of ragged breath in his ears, bruises along his neck, the dark flesh sending chills down Itachi's spine.

"_I don't think I want to, is this the beautiful neck that you suck so beautifully every night before you go to sleep? The neck that you bite so passionately? I have to say, Itachi, he is cute, to think you got the first taste of this body, the first beautiful taste."_

He took another sip of alcohol remembering those foul hands running up and down his body, wrapping his fingers around his neck as he gagged, gasping for air. He had to stop it before it got to the point where there was no way that he could breathe.

"Shit!" Itachi cursed as he looked at Sasuke's body, hearing his voice formulate small cries of pain. If he was just a little earlier, if he hadn't left him alone. It was his fault that he was like this.

He failed as a brother, he failed as a ninja. All of the failures before accumulated. He failed as a lover, he failed as a son, he failed a role model, he failed as a partner, he failed as a friend, but most importantly, he failed as a human. What kind of monster could just sit there and hold their dying brother and not shed a tear. Even now when Sasuke was dying not but two feet away from him, he still couldn't come up with a single tear. He could barely even look at him.

"Sasuke," he swallowed hard as he closed his eyes. "I…" he fought the words that he was originally going to say as he uttered a few words. "I'm a ninja…" he bit his lip. "I'm a ninja."

"_Stop being a ninja! Be my brother again, Itachi."_

He closed his eyes tighter as he looked down into the bottle of alcohol. "I'm sorry, Sasuke," these words he meant legitimately as he turned to his brother running a hand through his hair. "Please don't die on me."

He moved closer to him, resting his head on Sasuke's chest hearing the beating of his heart, the sound soothing him. "Don't die on me…" he closed his eyes even tighter. "I will never forgive you if you die before me, Sasuke," he ran a hand along his cheek. "And all of this time you wanted to kill me. You promised you wouldn't die until you killed me. Well who's going to die first? You're leaving me by the minute."

He felt his body start to tingle with an unwanted sensation: guilt. "Sasuke," he placed a kiss on his brother's chest. "You're so far away, it's like you're in your own world where I can't touch you," he felt his eyes burn with the creation of tears, tears that he had never felt fall down his cheeks in years. "Come back, Sasuke. It's so lonely now that you're gone."

"If he dies, Kabuto," he took a deep breath getting lost in the beating of Sasuke's heart. "I'll kill you…" the beating was starting to fade as he closed his eyes tightly, this all had to be a nightmare. Sasuke wasn't supposed to get involved in these matters. He wasn't supposed to lose him. Every second that went by was torture, how many more would he be alive for? When was this going to be all over?

"Damn you, Sasuke," he took a deep breath. "No fair, I'm supposed to be the one who dies," he closed his eyes tightly feeling something run down his cheek, so warm, so wet, so unfamiliar. Blood? From his eyes? Moving a finger he wiped the remnants away, what was this? A tear? After all of these years was he finally crying? Guilt filled his heart, a warm bubbling in his stomach; he shouldn't have drunk all of that liquor.

Moving away from Sasuke's side, he vomited on the floor, the burning sensation of alcohol searing at his throat. Guilt, self hatred, failure, all that he feared was no in his body, running through his mind like a reel of tape. How could he have done all of this after all that he gave up? Shisui was dead because he was trying so hard to be the best. He could still feel his father hand burning up against his cheek, Shisui's foot in his face, Kakashi's fingers pulling at his hair, tearing his scalp, Sasuke's fist at his ribs. He was a failure. He was so weak.

"Sasuke," he winced, his body giving out on his. "I'm sorry," he moved slowly to Sasuke's side, his eyes starting to close. "After all of this time, all that I didn't do for you, I still make you die on the inside," he saw the blood running from all of the wounds, all the memories coming back. That night came back the hardest, he remembered how Sasuke looked afterward, he couldn't even walk.

Itachi moved next to Sasuke's body a weak smile on his face. "I-I wanted to be the best, I wanted nothing to faze me. Father said I was a ninja, and I wanted to test that capacity by killing every last one. I was too weak then to kill you, and I'm too weak now to let you die. I was too selfish to give you up, I wanted you all for myself," he touched his hand, the heat starting to leave the extremity. "If you die right here," he swallowed hard. "I'll kill Kabuto Yakushi, and then," he grasped the dagger that was at Sasuke's side holding it tightly. "We'll die together…" he kissed him on the forehead. "Because that's what you always wanted…"

He closed his eyes feeling himself getting lightheaded. "Sasuke," he took a painfully deep breath, his chest freezing up. "I'm sorry…" he gripped the dagger tighter as he fell deeper into the darkness, his ribcage searing in pain. "I'm sorry that I did all of this to you. I failed you," he could feel the cold darkness all around him. "I'm sorry that you had to die in my place…" he was fully surrounded, not even able to feel his own body. He was losing himself. "Sasuke… I…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **This story is really killing the canon now that Kabuto is back. Now he's taken Sakura under his wing starting to fill her mind with lies for Orochimaru's benefit. However the next chapter wil not go into more depth about this topic. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that Kabuto should die? Honesty is my policy.

Next chapter is a flashback chapter to Shisui and Itachi's relationship.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: **I still don't Naruto, probably never will...

**Warnings: **First off I'd like to say that this chapter is a flashback chapter, it's my own take on how the night between Shisui and Itachi went (it's REALLY different from the ones you would expect, then again, a lot of things in this story are different.) This chapter contain coarse language, blood/violence, murder, attempted suicide, talk of possible child abuse, incest (two pairings), references to sexual situations, yaoi, OOC, and this is the part where the canon cannot be revived, it's dead. This chapter is also long and there are a few spelling/grammar issues that I didn't see.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, ShisIta, references to KakaIta

* * *

His eyes opened slightly, the smell of vomit filling his nostrils. The hard surface of the floor was pressed up against his cheek, as he let out a low moan. His head was spinning, he could hardly see. He moved gently off of the ground his mouth bubbling with the feeling of blood deep within his throat, the red liquid spilling to the floor as he moved back. 

"Shit," he breathed feeling his heart race faster in his chest, the muscle threatening to burst in his chest. What happened when he fell down? Did he pass out for that long?

He looked over at the clock as he took a deep breath; he had been out for only two hours, the clouds outside darker than the way that he left them. Everything was so cold, sending shivers down his spine chilling him to no end. As he looked around the room he looked at the body that was on the bed.

"Sasuke?" he asked as he moved to his brother's side taking his hand feeling the heat starting to leave the flesh, his body shivering lightly. "Hang in there," he took his hand tightly, moving closer. "You're freezing," he knew that he wasn't going to last much longer if he kept him like this.

"Don't," he breathed as he could feel heat rolling down his cheeks, though nothing was there. "Don't die on me."

Blood, he swore that he could feel blood running from his eyes as he looked on his brother's dying body. The way that he was shivering, the soaking wet frame, black hair stuck to his face as he was trying to breath. He looked like he had drowned, all life that had once been with him leaving as water filled his lungs. Looking upon him, all he could see was a mistake that was never going to leave him alone.

"S-Shisui," he took a deep breath as he backed away from his brother again, as he dry heaved, his body having nothing more to give. His head was spinning as he thought about all he had done. It all started the day when he killed Shisui, the day when his life that he used to call his own ended.

He moved to grasp Sasuke's hand again as he got slight control of his body starting to feel himself lose consciousness again. "Sasuke," he took a deep breath resting his head on his chest his vision clouding. "Don't leave me…" he took a deep breath as he closed his eyes giving into his fatigue. "Don't…"

As he fell into the darkness all he could see was the body frame of his cousin standing at the edge of the Nakano River, a dark smile on his face as he extended his hand. "Shisui," he took a deep breath watching him fade. "Why?" he gave off one last sigh. "Why?"

_Four years ago…_

_Why does he want to meet me by the river? Is there something wrong? _Itachi ran to the river's edge taking deep breaths trying to think why his cousin had summoned him. Was he trying to get them exposed? No one knew what was going on between them, the love that they shared for one another. It was forbidden, they were cousins. If their parents ever found out what was going on between them they would be harshly punished, the bruises on his wrist from his run in with his father screaming at him at the thought.

He stopped as he saw his cousin standing by the river looking off into the distance not even acknowledging his presence. This was serious, he was dressed in his usual clothes that he had worn on his mission, the forehead protector tied around his head, his trademark dagger at his side.

"Shisui?" he asked as he ran to the edge of the river right behind his cousin almost slipping on the ground. "I'm here."

"You know why I wanted you to come here, right?" a voice asked as he came closer to the edge of the river. "Come closer," he turned to look back at him, a smile on his face, a devious smile. "You're late, Itachi."

Itachi stepped closer. "What's the point of this? Why did you urge me to see you tonight?" he took a deep breath straightening out his shirt. "Shisui, there's something going on with you."

Dark eyes looked up into his. "Itachi, one of us is going to die here tonight…"

Itachi gulped as he took in the words his heart fluttering in his chest uncomfortably. Shisui was acting weird saying strange words these days, words that weren't his. Ever since he heard of what happened with Itachi, his acceptance into ANBU, he seemed jealous. He had become distant, he could tell by the way that he kissed him; the way that he held him that there was something different.

"What did you just say?" Itachi asked shaking his head. "Did you just say that you're going to kill me?"

Shisui smiled as he turned around fully taking a deep breath as he looked into Itachi's dark eyes. "No, I just want to know what you've been up to. How's ANBU treating you? How's that new guy that I saw you with?"

"Kakashi?" Itachi asked. "What do you mean? I finished a mission for him," he cocked his head to his side. "Why do you ask? Is there something you want to know about Kakashi?"

"Kakashi Hatake?" Shisui asked him venomously. "I know what he does to people, I know that he's a pervert," he looked back at him. "What are you doing with him? Are you doing more than just a case for him?"

Itachi took a deep breath. "You didn't come here to ask me these kind of questions. You came here to discuss some important matter and judging by your garb I can tell that this is more serious than I thought."

There was silence as Shisui took a step closer, the silence quickly breaking as he started to laugh lightly. The ground beneath his feet pushed together under the pressure of his foot. The laughter made Itachi's face blanch, what was going on?

"Shisui?" he asked shakily as he felt Shisui's hand stroke his cheek.

"Itachi," he breathed looking into his eyes. "Do you remember what we read? Do you remember the text that was in the book? You have to know what I'm talking about, the ultimate power of the sharingan. The mangekyou sharingan, you have to know about it."

Backing away, Itachi felt his heart race. "Shisui, that kills people."

Shisui frowned. "Only the weak," he grasped Itachi's arm as he looked into his eyes. "A body that is strong, a true Uchiha body is good enough to fulfill the requirements. Elite Uchiha ninja can unlock it. We are elite, the most elite."

Itachi swallowed hard closing his eyes, the breeze picking up, pulling his hair away from his face. Breath was coming hard to him as he felt Shisui take his shoulders pulling him into a tight embrace.

"Shisui," he took a deep breath. "In order to obtain the mangekyou sharingan, you have to kill your best friend. Do you think I want your death thrown onto me? Power or not, even having my father as the police captain isn't going to get me out of this one."

"Who says he has to find out?" Shisui chuckled pulling out the dagger, his hand pressed up against Itachi's chest. "And who the hell said that you were going to be the one to kill me? I'm elite as well, Shisui the Mirage, I was going on real missions when you were still a sniveling brat at the Academy."

Itachi felt the collar of his shirt being grasped tightly in Shisui's hand. Why was this happening to him? Shisui was more than just a person to him. He was his cousin, the Uchiha blood that ran through Itachi's veins ran through his as well. He was his best friend, he could confide in him when his family didn't have a clue, when the bruises that his father left him with were too much for him to bear. Most importantly he was his lover, the person who made him feel like he was a person when everything got too rough for him to take.

Shisui's hand flung him back into the river, the splash of cold water surrounding his body as he tried to numb the pain that was going through his flesh. The freezing sensation scalded at his bruises around his wrists. He could imagine what was going on at home, his younger brother sitting on the bed waiting for him to come home, the chill of the night forming tears in his eyes.

"Shisui," Itachi breathed trying to get off of the water watching Shisui run toward him with the dagger in his hand. "What the hell are you trying to do?"

A force fell on top of him, a dagger pushed to his neck. "I will not allow myself to be surpassed by a kid anymore. You damn brat. You think you can rise up like that and not attract attention. What are you trying to pull Itachi?"

"Shisui," he took a deep breath feeling the dagger move closer to his neck. "You're hurting me…"

"Then smarten up," Shisui breathed. "If you want this power, you're going to have to work for it. There's no way that you can surpass me if you refuse to kill me. People that you know have died, maybe at your hand," he hissed as he let a smile tug at the corners of his lips. "How are you ever going to get over this weakness of yours thinking that you can be this picture of perfection, never kill anyone close to you?"

"Shisui!" Itachi winced trying to break free from Shisui's grasp.

"Not everyone can be like you blessed with talent, to be beautiful, to be born into the head family of this damned clan. I know on the inside you hate them, you told me not too long ago. You thought it was a waste of your time to wear that crest on your back, and everyday you look at your life and you know that you're in a cage," he smiled. "I can free you."

Finally able to get out of the grip he looked straight into his best friend's eyes struggling to his feet. All he could see was the glint of the moonlight shining off of the dagger. Shisui was serious. Bloodlust was in his eyes, the envy that he had gotten in his eyes the day when he saw Itachi's chuunin exam match. Through the cheers, Shisui was curling his fists in anger, until the flesh of his knuckles broke. Itachi excelled at everything; he made a name for himself almost instantly. Shisui worked all of his life.

The envy melted Itachi right there, the times where they lay in Shisui's bed together, his voice sounding so sure as he said that he loved him. Was that all a lie? Did he fake everything that they had? Was he just using him to get to his power? His heart sank in his chest as he heard the words.

"What are you talking about?" Itachi asked looking up at him. "Shisui, do you resent me for being successful? All I ever wanted was to be like you, I looked up to you like an older brother. Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Itachi," Shisui stated, holding the dagger tightly in his hand. "You thought that you were better than everyone else, you made it obvious when you trained so hard for ANBU. They made you a Goddamn squad leader when you're only thirteen. You mastered the Fireball Jutsu when you first tried it. You think that you're better than me, and I've had it with your smug attitude."

Itachi watched as Shisui charged for him. "You want a fight to the death? The winner takes all?"

"You think you can beat me, Itachi? You are so dumb aren't you? You know after all of this time it would have to come down to this. We are the only two ninja in this clan who could survive the transition," he sped up, running in a straight line, water kicking up in his wake. "But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?"

As Itachi tried to move, he felt the dagger pierce his shoulder, blood running down his arm. "Shit!" he cried out falling to his knees grasping the shoulder tightly as he was trying to take a deep breath.

Shisui pushed him to the water withdrawing the dagger. "You wanted to reach the height, put that man in his place. The man that you called father who decided that it would be alright if he abused you so hard that you broke right in front of him, you wanted him to pay for what he did," he took a deep breath. "You embarrass me, Itachi, after I brag about you to all of my teammates; you're just sitting here like a little child. You're on the verge of pissing yourself in fear."

"Shut up!" Itachi breathed closing his eyes tightly. "Don't act like you know me," he reopened them revealing the red irises of the sharingan. "You don't know me, Shisui, and I don't know you."

He stood up to look his cousin in the eyes watching Shisui smile even broader. Was this a game to him? Was this something that had been stashed away throughout their casual rivalry? He gripped the dagger tighter as he closed his own eyes.

"Let's see who uses the kekkei genkai better, Itachi," he revealed his own sharingan. "After I'm done with you, I'm going to take everyone who hurt you, including that little boy that you call a brother."

"Leave Sasuke out of this, you son of a bitch!" Itachi breathed pulling out a kunai. "You think that those words will make me back down. Like you said one of us is going to die tonight to make the mangekyou sharingan a reality. I know that if either of us unlocks it the transition will kill us. Strong or not, do you know how few people have mastered that power?"

"But we're not ordinary," Shisui breathed. "We've bragging rights through the village. I'm the first in the clan that would volunteer do anything for the Hokage; I would put my life on the line. You however sit on your ass and have everything given to you," he curled his hand into a fist. "How about this, Princess Itachi? How are you going to take this?"

Shisui's fist rushed forward hitting Itachi in the face, pushing him underneath the water. The freezing water ran into his mouth as he tried to swim to the top hearing Shisui laugh cheerfully. Was this what Shisui had wanted? He was no different from the rest of the clan; he was just another person who thought they could push Itachi around. He shamed himself.

He emerged taking a deep breath looking up at Shisui. "What are you doing this for; I thought that you loved me."

"I do," Shisui answered. "I love you enough to make you the reason for my power. Whenever I use a technique, the power in my eyes will be all because of you. You're going to be great; this can all look like a suicide."

"You're cutting me up with a dagger," Itachi shivered struggling to his feet.

"Then it's an assassination," Shisui continued. "The longer you stay in this water, the more your wounds will bleed. Slowly you'll bleed to death and the power that rests within me will manifest," he pulled Itachi up from the water seeing the young boy's eyes start to water. "Oh Itachi, don't give me that look. Don't make me feel sorry for what I have to do to you. I didn't decide how it worked, and I loved you before I read that damn text, but it intrigued me more than it intrigued you. I couldn't sleep while thinking about it," he stroked his cousin's lips lightly. "Even in our most intimate moments afterward I couldn't stop thinking about how it could happen if I ended you."

Itachi coughed lightly. "Shisui…"

"Every time I saw you after that I wished that you wouldn't be so magnetic. I was trying to make myself hate you, find a new best friend who I could kill, but I couldn't let you go. You were too much of who I am to let go," he kissed Itachi's lips lightly. "My sweet little cousin, Itachi. Sweet, naïve, little Itachi. It pains me to watch you die this way," he brought the dagger back aiming it at his chest. "I don't want to hurt your beautiful face."

"Shisui," Itachi breathed as he felt a hand wrap around his neck the dagger moving closer. "Why are you going to kill me?" he looked into Shisui's crimson eyes as his body shook.

"I want you to die to prove that I'm strong."

Itachi's eyes closed as a tear fell down his cheek. "You jealous prick…" he moved to take the dagger. "Try and kill me," he closed his eyes tighter more tears falling. "I knew that all of these bastards in this clan were trying to turn their back on me, but not you, Shisui. I trusted you, I loved you, and now," he started to sob. "You broke all of that!" he pushed Shisui away tossing the dagger onto the shore. He watched as Shisui fell beneath the surface, he didn't care what happened anymore.

All of the trust that he had put in Shisui was gone, he didn't know what to believe anymore. He had seemed to love him; he had gotten under his flesh into his heart so easily. He said that his love was deep, deep enough to kill Itachi.

_Is that what love is?_ He closed his eyes tightly trying to stop the tears. He wasn't supposed to show any emotions, but who was watching him? Shisui? Shisui already thought that he was too weak for his own good; there was no hope for their relationship to progress at this rate. He had to do what Shisui wanted, fight to the death. Give up his life to Shisui if he needed to. He had no reason to live anymore.

Shisui rose with a cough. "Itachi… you fucker!" he rose out of the water his red eyes so cold that they burnt. "You thought you could kill me like that?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed the tears still forming in his eyes. "Where do you think this forsaken clan would be if it wasn't for me? There would be no ties to Konoha if it wasn't for me," he rolled up his sleeve showing the ANBU tattoo. "You aren't worth the dust on my feet Shisui Uchiha! You aren't worth anything to me if that's how you feel. You're skills might be better, but I'm more well renowned."

"A-at least, I don't need to fuck Kakashi Hatake to feel better about myself," Shisui coughed looking up at his cousin. "You're a bastard. Was it so important to you to go off and fool around with an old man who never appreciated you?"

"Shut up!" Itachi breathed, a tear falling to the water. "You don't know what happened between me and Kakashi. Don't you bring him into this," he hissed with fervor. "If you say that word one more time I will kill you right here," he pulled him up by his collar. "You know how much I hate him!"

Shisui took a deep breath. "Why because he doesn't love you? No one will love you like I do. Even if you kill me right here and now, I'm the only one that you will love in the black heart of yours."

"You're wrong," he swallowed hard, his eyes closing tighter. "I love someone more than I love you already," he opened as he smiled slightly. "Sasuke, I love him more than I will ever love anything. He's the only one in this clan who's worth keeping alive."

Shisui's eyes opened more. "You want to keep him alive? That weakling?" he scoffed. "He doesn't hold a candle to your might. Do you think that he can really resolve this? Prove that you aren't as strong as you think."

Itachi shook his head. "He will be the one to prove that there are others more worthy than I to be powerful. I don't deserve anything that I get, but if your so keen to waste your life to test my strength, my capacity," his eyes grew cold, "then you will be the first to fall at my hand."

He kicked him to the ground, pushing his face underneath the water hearing his voice rise into a loud scream. Closing his eyes, he continued to push him underneath, feeling his body squirm beneath him. The weakness that was going through his cousin, the surrender made him moan slightly in delight; he had never felt this hungry for pain before, this bloodthirsty.

Deeper he pushed him into the water, his body thrashing viciously as he was drowning, the splashes from the bubbles rising to the top of the liquid. He took deep breaths trying to keep the tears of elation from running down his cheeks. Life was slipping out of Shisui's body slowly but sure, he was going to die here.

"Don't you ever act like you know me," he took a deep breath his voice growing into a shout. "You don't know anything about me you devious prick!" he pulled him out of the water throwing him onto the shore, the sound of his ribs breaking filling his ears.

The sound of coughing filled his ears as he looked over at the shore watching his cousin shake from the cold, his body growing pallid. He moved through the water to go to the shore, what had he just done? Fear ran through his body, he read the text, he wasn't even sure if he was going to survive the transition.

"Shisui," he took a deep breath, moving onto the shore feeling his stomach bubble, the transition was starting. Shisui was starting to die on him. He looked into his cousin's eyes seeing the pain that he was going through. The sharingan descended as he coughed again, his body growing limp.

"I-Itachi?" he coughed lightly as his lungs started to fill with blood. "A-amazing."

"Shisui," Itachi breathed starting to cry a little. "What the hell did I do to you?"

The older boy chuckled. "There's only a little while until I die, it hurts to breath," he took a harsh breath as he shuddered. "You killed me, Itachi, you're going to unlock that power that we read about… you're going to be an excellent ninja."

Itachi shook his head. "No…" he felt his eyes start to burn letting out a sharp cry. It was already happening even though he wasn't dead yet. Shisui was still breathing and still his head reeled in pain. "I don't know if I'm going to survive…"

Shisui grinned. "You're going to make it; your body s a true heir of the abilities, there's nothing that can kill you. The power that's starting to grow inside of your body is what we all strive for, but never get. You were a chosen one."

He shook his head as he tried to block out what Shisui was saying. "No!" he took a deep breath. "You're going to be alright," he took a deep breath feeling the pain resound in his head over and over. "No," he took an even deeper breath, his blood running could. "Shisui, I don't want you to."

He took the young boy's hand weakly coughing again, his body shaking, blood rolling past his lips. "Itachi, give them hell. Make all of them pay for what they made you become. They made you this monster that I see before me. Make every last one of them who has wronged you die at your hand," he closed his eyes. "Promise me…"

Itachi nodded shakily holding his dying best friend's hand. "I promise, Shisui, and I won't go back on my word," he felt warmth circulate through his eyes as a drop of blood fell from his mouth onto Shisui's forehead.

A smile graced Shisui's lips as he felt the blood hit him. "It begins…" he closed his eyes as he released his last breath, his body becoming limp, his hand almost falling out of Itachi's hold.

"Shisui?" he asked shakily, more blood pouring from his lips. "Shisui?" he moved his fingers to check for a pulse, he had none. His cousin had died, at his hand. The transformation was only starting.

"Shisui," his voice was shaking with pain and fear combined. "Why did you… why did you force me to do this to you?"

He took a series of breaths as he tried to stop the tears that were running from his eyes. Shisui was gone. He called him out there so one of them would die at the other's hand. The elder of the two was unlucky enough to be the one who fell as the younger one was able to get out with his life. There was nothing for him to lean on anymore all that he had once held so dear was now lying dead in his arms.

"You made me do this," he continued his voice shaking with the trace of crying. "I could have done this for you; I could have been the one who died instead," his voice became tighter as he closed his eyes tightly, his eyes burning violently. He moved his fingers to his eyelashes, blood staining his fingertips.

"Shit…" he cried out in pain, his hands rushing to either side of his head, his whole body shaking violently. The pain that was running through his body, made him fall flat on the ground, his nerves giving out on him one by one. In the presence of his pain he moved forward vomiting a glut of blood.

He started gagging as he bent over onto Shisui's body, scarlet liquid running from his lips, his coughing got violent as he tried to suppress the cries in between each breath pulling his hair loose from his black ponytail. He looked up, streams of crimson running from his lips and eyes as he said one word:

"Sasuke…" he took a deep breath. "Please… prove to me that this pain that I'm going through isn't in vain. Show me that you can become more powerful," more blood ran from his eyes, his nose dripping as well. His throat burned as he struggled for breath, his skin paling in front of him.

Vision becoming cloudy he looked down at Shisui, this was too suspicious, there had to be another way that he could cover this up. _This can all look like a suicide; _he took hold of Shisui's body picking up the dead weight of his lover looking at the pale skin of his face. He looked like he was sleeping; going off into his own world, the world that he was always off in when they talked. He looked like he was finally at peace.

The searing pain not dulling in his eyes he walked out into the water looking down at the moist black hair framing his face, his dark eyes slightly open as he moved deeper into the world of death.

"Shisui," Itachi moved down to give him one last kiss. "I love you," he dropped his body into the water watching it sink down to the bottom, the bloody tears that ran down his cheeks hitting the water. His body shook as he closed his eyes, Shisui killed himself, that's what they would know form the scene.

His knees were buckling as he remembered all that he had been through until this moment looking at the bruises on his hands. "This clan, I've given up all hope for it," he coughed up one last flood of blood as he opened his eyes feeling the sharingan stronger than it was before seeing the black all combine into one unit resembling a kaleidoscope, blood still running from his eyes as he allowed an evil smile to grace his lips. "The Uchiha Clan made me into this," he turned to slowly walk out of the water looking over at Shisui's dagger, grabbing it as he walked by looking at the blade shine in the moonlight. "Thank you Shisui for giving me this power. Thank you for opening my eyes…"

-----

"_Thank you for opening my eyes…" _he opened his eyes and let out a low breath as he tried to block out the memories, feeling his mouth fill with blood, he could feel Sasuke's breathing beneath him. "Shisui," he breathed blood spilling onto Sasuke's body. "I'm so sorry… I… I'm sorry…"

He shifted his weight hearing Sasuke wince in pain. "Sasuke…"

Holding his hand tightly he snuggled closely into the heat that was returning to the flesh. He was alive; his life that was fleeting only moments ago was now coming back. The boy that he would have given his life for him over and over again was not going to die because he was too late to save him. Kabuto Yakushi wasn't going to win this round. Hands held each other tightly.

"Sasuke…" Itachi moaned lightly falling back into the darkness.

_Four years ago…_

He washed his face in the sink quietly, washing all the traces of blood away from his skin. All he could think about was Shisui; he was never coming back from where he was. He was never going to have the pleasure of talking to him when times got rough anymore. The dagger that he had stabbed him with was now bolted to his side.

Shisui was nothing but a memory now, nothing but a bedtime story of his past mistakes. The blade had never looked so tempting before. His fingers went for the blade, a smile coming to his lips. _You're wrong, Shisui, _his head was pulsing in pain even two hours after it had happened. _I'm not going to survive the transition, _grasped the handle of the blade as he pulled it closer to him. He was going to die.

"Brother?" a voice called out from behind him.

Itachi looked back to see his younger brother walking toward him, dark circles under his eyes. The child hadn't gotten any sleep and he had been crying; he was staggering struggling to keep his eyes opened. "Sasuke?"

The young boy looked up at him. "Where were you, father was worried," he closed his eyes. "He was yelling to mother about you getting lost. He was going to send the police force out to look for you."

Itachi dropped the dagger to crouch down and take his younger brother into a hug. "I love you, Sasuke," he took a deep breath. "No matter what happens remember that I love you no matter what," he kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, Sasuke."

Sasuke smiled as he giggled resting his head on his brother's shoulder. "I love you too, brother," he returned the hug. "I missed you, I couldn't sleep without you here," he kissed his brother on the cheek hearing him let out a low breath. "I had a dream that you were going to die."

Itachi's eyes widened as he felt blood form in the corner of his eyes. "What made you think that?"

"It was a dream," Sasuke answered, feeling his brother grasp onto him tighter still. "Brother," he took a deep breath returning the hug closing his eyes starting to fall asleep in his arms. "I was scared."

He placed a kiss on his forehead lifting him off of the ground feeling his breath on his neck. _Sasuke, _he held onto his tighter as he walked toward the doorway so he could get to his bedroom before their parents woke up. There was no telling how they were going to react as they saw him a soaking wet bloody wreck.

Their father would never let him hear the end of it, if what Sasuke said was true, if he really did want to send out the police force after him, it was going to be worse than he thought. He was probably already pissed, only more fighting could come of that. Sasuke shouldn't be subjected to the torture.

He was outside the door as he looked at the dagger that was strapped to his waist, Shisui's dagger. This was something that he was going to be excused for. This was the dagger that Shisui always used in every single one of his battles. Why he would have such a thing was going to come up in conversation.

Opening the door he tossed the dagger to the ground moving the body of his sleeping brother to the bed hearing his breathing calm down. He was so innocent, yet when Itachi's hands touched him he didn't flinch. Did he fear the power that he had unlocked? Didn't he fear the mangekyou sharingan? Did he not feel the power that he was going through his body?

"Brother," Sasuke breathed, snuggling deeper into Itachi's pillows. "I'm so glad that you're alright."

Itachi smiled as he stroked his younger brother's cheek. "I'm always going to be here for you," he took the young boys hand placing it on his chest closing his eyes tightly. "I'm alive."

Sasuke giggled lightly as he opened his eyes moving up to kiss his brother's lips lightly. Itachi kissed back parting the young boy's lips lightly with his tongue, hearing Sasuke's strangled cries of happiness. For a young boy, he was so hungry for the unknown, he didn't know what he was doing with his brother was wrong. Or maybe it was that he just didn't care.

"Brother," Sasuke breathed, moving closer to him. "I don't like it when you get like this. I don't like it when you're leave me alone," he wiped a tear from his eye. "When you leave me, it's like your trying to kill me."

Itachi gasped as he closed his eyes remembering Shisui's words. _"No one will love you like I do. Even if you kill me right here and now, I'm the only one that you will love in the black heart of yours." _

"I love you, brother," Sasuke breathed as he kissed Itachi's cheek. "I hate how you always leave me alone. It's like I don't matter to you," he let a tear fall down his cheek, his voice shaking. "Why do you do this? Why do you cause so much pain whenever you leave? Why am I so attached to you?"

Itachi held him tightly, closing his eyes in pain trying to conceal the fact that he was bleeding. "Because I mean something to you, I'm precious to you and you would give anything for my life. You share a bond with me because the blood that runs through your veins runs through mine as well," he held him tighter. "But you have to wake up early for the Academy tomorrow."

"Okay," Sasuke breathed closing his eyes as he nuzzled his brother's chest. "You're not going to leave while I'm asleep are you?"

Itachi shook his head. "I won't," he kissed him on the top of his head inhaling the scent of his hair, a smile rolling across his lips. "I'll be right here when you wake up," he felt Sasuke fall asleep in his arms as he closed his eyes tightly. This was the night when everything that he held so dear was gone. Shisui was dead; he wasn't here to console him. He was to do this all by himself.

"_Itachi, give them hell. Make all of them pay for what they made you become. They made you this monster that I see before me. Make every last one of them who has wronged you die at your hand. Promise me…"_

"I will," he answered taking a deep breath looking over at his best friend's dagger on the ground. "All of them, every last one of you who has made me become this will die in your name with this power that you have granted me," he stroked Sasuke's hair. "Except you, Sasuke," he kissed the top of his head hearing the child breathe joyfully snuggling closer. "You can live through all of this. You can be the only one who survives," he looked out the window; the dawn of a new day was coming.

-----

He opened his eyes hearing a roll of thunder go through his ears, how long had he been out? His head reeled in pain as he backed away from his younger brother's body. Was that all a dream, far off memory that had come back to haunt him? On that night, he killed Shisui to obtain this power, going home to a broken little boy who was strong enough to save him from the edge.

"Sasuke?" he asked weakly as he shook the boy lightly. He looked even weaker than he did before, he looked almost dead. "No…"

He moved to stroke his face, closing his eyes tightly. "Sasuke, I told you not to screw with me," he felt warmth build up in his eyes, tears that he had not let fall for years. "Look what you done to me," he stated coldly.

He moved away to touch lightly at the dagger that he given him only a few days ago, Shisui's dagger, the one that he had saved from the scene. It was a sign of a far off past that he was trying to forget, hoping that when Sasuke used it all of the memories would cease. Now looking at it all he could think of was that night where he longed to have that blade run through his chest.

He swallowed hard taking the blade in his hand. "Sasuke, I love you," he took a deep breath remembering that night clearly; "I hate how you always leave me alone. It's like I don't matter to you," he closed his eyes his voice growing quiet as it shook. "Why do you do this? Why do you cause so much pain whenever you leave? Why am I so attached to you?" he grasped the blade tightly biting at his lip harshly. "Why do I care so damn much about you?"

He pointed the blade at his chest, it had to end now. Everything that he had done, this monster that had formed inside of him, it had to die. This wasn't him; this wasn't how he wanted to live his life. The curse that Shisui put on him was deeper than any curse; it had taken hold of him for four years, this child being able to break him loose.

Broken loose or not, he was still a monster, a monster that had to be ended right here. With this dagger that Shisui had held so dear to his heart, everything was going to end. Just one push away from killing the beast within, one push away from destroying what Shisui wanted him to be.

"Itachi?" a voice called out, causing his eyes to open abruptly, the tear that had managed to escape falling from its path. The hands that held the dagger to his chest were shaking with every breath that came from his body. Turning to the voice he saw his brother, his eyes opened, his body surging with small tremors.

Itachi swallowed hard, closing his eyes in shame. "Go back to sleep, Sasuke."

The young boy struggled to sit up looking at the dagger that was in his brother's hands. "Itachi? What the hell are you doing?" he moved to the edge of the bed. "Stop it," he moved his arm to grab Itachi's wrist. "Stop it…"

The older brother looked away from him. "I thought this is what you wanted," his voice stayed a calm tone of voice. "Doesn't this just make it all easier? Sasuke, when I look at this dagger you don't know what I see."

Sasuke's eyes wandered to the bottle next to his brother, it was empty. He had consumed too much alcohol as is. Was his brother drunk? Or was Itachi just having a moment where he felt like nothing was worth anything?

"What do you see?" Sasuke asked, wincing as he tried to move from the bed, blood seeping out of his wounds as his bruises screamed at him, numbing all sensations in his body, his hand loosening on his brother's wrist.

He lowered the dagger to the ground as he moved to take Sasuke's lips, his arms wrapping around the young boy tightly. A gasp of shock escaped from the genin as his dark eyes remaining open during the bondage. He could taste the tang of alcohol along with the tinge of blood and vomit as he was brought deeper into the kiss, his brother's hands grasping him tighter.

"Itachi," he breathed, backing away looking into his brother's eyes. "How long have I been out?"

A roll of thunder went through his ears. "I don't even know how long I've been out, I passed out after drinking all of the alcohol," he watched his younger brother roll his eyes. "I wasn't drunk, I was having a moment."

Sasuke breathed heavily moving away from him back onto the bed. "What kind of moment?" he looked at the blood that was covered all over his body. "Did he…?" he reached out to touch his brother's shirt. "Itachi, did that bastard…?"

He shook his head. "I escaped before he did any real damage to you," he took a deep breath as he grasped the dagger again. "It was about this, do you know where this is from?"

"A collection that you had?" Sasuke asked his voice dragging; he didn't really care about the origin at all. All he was concerned about was why his brother wasn't kissing him anymore.

Itachi's eyes narrowed in disgust, his fingers wrapping around the handle tighter. "This is the only item that I took from the crime scene the night that Shisui died, this was the last thing of his that I touched before I left the area," he looked down at his brother with a grin. "That night when I was out and you told me that father had called the police force, this was the dagger that I was holding, this was the dagger that I was going to end my life with. His dagger…"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "That's Shisui's dagger?"

Itachi nodded as he looked at the point a smile on his face watching the light from the flash of lightning reflect off of the metal. "This dagger has been soaked with my blood a few times, that night it was able to make its way into my shoulder."

"I don't understand," Sasuke winced. "What went on that night anyway? All I know is that you killed Shisui, but I never heard how it really happened. Why were you two down by the river that night?"

"I thought that he was going to tell me something," Itachi breathed heavily as he stroked his younger brother's face. "But in reality… it was all a craze for power. You wouldn't remember, but before I became the pride of the village, Shisui was the best. He was the one that we gladly sent on every mission that he was able to go on. He never backed down, not letting his young age be a factor," he closed his eyes tightly remembering the look on Shisui's face that night, the last time that he kissed those lips. "Then when I became the one they went to, I was the only person that stood in his way of absolute power," he sighed. "I could go into the details, but you don't need to know…"

Sasuke sat up looking into his brother's eyes with so much hatred. "So why did he call you? Was it to discuss plans for the village?"

Itachi shook his head. "I was to test his power…"

"What?" Sasuke asked watching his brother's eyes close tightly. "What did he do to you, Itachi?"

"That night," Itachi's voice trailed off, his hand wrapping tightly around the handle of the blade, "was the night when he said that he wanted to kill me. He said that in order to keep the balance of power in the clan, one of us was going to die there that night. He intended on killing me, he thought that with me out of the way that he could obtain the mangekyou sharingan and destroy everyone who had used me. He was going to massacre the clan worse than I did."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, Shisui would never…"

"You didn't know him like I did!" Itachi hissed. "You might have seen him, but you didn't look into his eyes everyday and ask what was going on in his mind. You never had to do wonder why he looked at the text for so long. You didn't kiss his lips knowing that he wanted to bathe in your blood. He hated me for surpassing him, he was jealous that someone of my age was able to do that much."

Sasuke looked at the dagger. "Then why did you give me the dagger?"

"Because I love you," Itachi breathed. "Because I thought that maybe I could find more happiness in you than any of those other people ever gave me. I was hoping that you would show me that I'm not just a person that be thrown away. I want to prove that I can move on without his hands strangling the life out of me," he picked the dagger up. "For four damn years I've been bearing the weight of his curse," he threw the dagger, the weapon getting stuck in the wood of the doorway. "Damn him!"

Sasuke watched as Itachi's eyes closed tightly, his body shaking. That night was coming to light every night that went by. He was still in there; he knew that from the way that he looked right now, the way his body trembled as the thunder resonated through the night.

A shiver ran through Sasuke's body, the sound of thunder chilling him. He grasped onto Itachi's wrist hearing the older ninja gasp in shock his eyes opening as the rain hit the window fully. His eyes traveled to the young boy who was laying on the bed his eyes wide in fear.

"Still scared?" Itachi asked his eyes softening fast, his eyes the weakest that he had ever sent them before.

Sasuke scoffed. "Fuck you…"

Itachi laughed as he moved closer to him. "Sasuke isn't it ironic that the first thing that you hear when you wake up from your long sleep is a thunderstorm," he kissed his cheek. "Your body is weak, I think that you should go back to sleep."

"Are you going to try to get into my pants again?" Sasuke asked stroking his older brother's face, feeling his lips collide with his palm in a kiss.

He shook his head pulling him closer as he looked over at the dagger on the wall. Looking back at Sasuke with a fake smile on his face, his eyes closed tightly, trying to fight the tears that were forming behind them. On the outside he tried to keep his composure while on the inside he was running toward that tempting dagger putting an end to all of this. It was the only way to save Sasuke from Kabuto.

"No," he answered, holding the bloody hand tightly. "By the way, you lost the bet. The crest is going nowhere near my back until you prove to me that I should wear it. Judging by the lack of chakra, you weren't able to think about doing my jutsu right."

"I will surpass you," Sasuke breathed.

Itachi laughed. "Go to sleep Sasuke."

The young boy closed his eyes shivering at the crash of thunder. "I'm going to get to you one day," he fell into slumber. "I'm going to beat you."

Itachi smiled as the grip on his hand loosened, his eyes moving up to the dagger, all he could see was his face: Shisui, was he ever going to let him live his life the way that he wanted to? Or was he always going to be a puppet to do his bidding. The weapon that was lodged in the wall was screaming to him, it never looked this tempting. He breathed shakily, closing his eyes tightly as he let another tear fall. He was broken.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that was TOTALLY different than how it most likely happened in the show, but I thought that it would make the story flow more. I know that it also took away from what Kabuto is doing to Sakura, but I needed a break from that. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that I should stop writing this while I'm still ahead? Honesty is my policy. 


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own anything...

**Warnings: **This chapter is another long one, sorry about that. It also contains yaoi, incest, references to rape, blood/violence, vulgar language, use of alcohol, references to suicidal thoughts, OOC, and the canon is dead for sure, it's not coming back.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight ItaKabu, some SasuNaru and SasuSaku, a pinch of KabuSaku, and a dash of AsuKure

* * *

Abomination, that's what was deep inside of him. As he looked in the mirror that morning all he could see was the abomination that Sasuke had talked about. Was that all he was to him? Was he nothing more than a hurdle he had to jump to get the power that he always wanted? Slowly he reached to touch the mirror; the one that he called his best friend was now the one who was trying to kill him.

Closing his eyes tightly he walked away from the mirror remembering those hands wrapped around his neck tightly. There was no way that he cared about him. The look of hunger in those eyes haunted him every time he went to sleep. Was power the only thing that Sasuke cared about? Were the people close to him expendable for power? That was low, he didn't even think Itachi Uchiha was that low. At least he warned people.

He moved to his answering machine, how many people left him messages today? He got a laugh out of them, all of them begging him to come out of his apartment, every single one of them sounding like he was going to kill himself. This wasn't what he needed, what he needed was to be left alone.

Nobody understood that, every now and then he would have somebody come over, usually Iruka-sensei, he always insisted on being there for him, he was the one who thought he was going to kill himself the most. He didn't mind Iruka's company, he didn't seem to pity or belittle him, he was there solely to have Naruto to have some positive attention. He knew what happened to Kakashi.

"Let's see who wants me to come out of my apartment today," he let the machine start only letting the first syllable sound. "Sakura," _deleted_. "Shikamaru," _deleted_. "Ino," _deleted_. "Chouji," _deleted_. "Sakura," _deleted_. "Sakura," _deleted_.

He pressed the button again. "Hey Naruto," it was Sasuke's voice, he was about to press the button when he heard the cough. "I know this is probably a bad time to call you, but I really needed to talk to someone. It's been really crazy lately, and I feel as though I'm becoming so reclusive that you have forgotten how my voice sounds," he sighed as Naruto closed his eyes listening to it. "Well, if you ever just want to talk, you can call me. If you don't want to do that, I'll be around the village. See ya."

He closed his eyes, Sasuke left him another message. He thought it was bad enough that he was trying to apologize, but this was getting terribly obsessive. Did he feel that much guilt for what he did to Naruto? There was no way in hell that this was the real Sasuke that he knew. Ever since that night by the river he had become a new person.

A knock came to his door. Who could it be? Was it Iruka-sensei again? Or was it Sakura who made a habit of sitting outside his doorway all night. It couldn't be Sasuke; he would never be caught dead over here. He walked toward the door opening it lightly, but as he opened it, he wished he could close it again.

"Ino?" he asked his voice dull. "Are you the one that they're sending next? Are you all taking turns? What did you come here for?"

She scoffed. "I'm making a delivery," she handed him a bouquet of daffodils. "This is for you, why this person would be sending you flowers is beyond me," he placed them in his hands. "There's a note attached."

Naruto took the note in his hand, his blue eyes widening as he read the text. He tried to understand why he was even sent these as he read the name that signed the note. Flowers almost fell out of his arms as he glanced up at Ino seeing her jealous glare.

_Naruto, I'm sorry about what happened a couple days ago. I fucked up, I know that. Could we still be friends? –Sasuke. _The note was in his hand writing meaning he actually went into Ino's shop and purchased these. He was on the verge of desperation; all of these kind things that he was doing for him were nothing more than to beg for an apology.

"He wants you to come out of your apartment as well," Ino answered quietly. "I came here to talk with you. I don't think you should be cooped up in this apartment. You need to come out of there and start living a life. One by one, all of us are starting to lose our faith in you."

He shook his head. "Sakura never will lose faith; she's never going to give up on me. She cares too much for me," he looked into Ino's eyes. "Why isn't she here with you? She's usually always outside my door."

Ino looked away. "Naruto," her voice was quieter and heavier than he thought it could ever go, he vibrant blue eyes burning harshly. "Sakura has been missing since yesterday," she took a deep breath as she looked at the blond boy in front of her. "We've searched for her, but there's no trace. Her parents are going crazy; they don't know where to find her."

Naruto looked at the answering machine taking a deep breath. _Sakura, what are you doing? _He grasped Sasuke's flowers harder, he had to go see him, had to ask about what happened to Sakura.

"_No one has. I've been around town asking for him, but everyone has given me the same answer. They saw him last night, but since then he's been gone. Do you think he ran away?"_

What if what happened to Sasuke happened to him as well? What if she was abducted by a rogue ninja with an unknown purpose? He wouldn't be able to handle that again, he was going to be able to sit back and watch his friends die on the inside or outside.

He walked to the phone ignoring Ino, placing the flowers on the table; slowly he dialed Sasuke's number. He heard Sasuke greet him quietly, almost breathlessly as he responded to the ringing.

"Sasuke, we have a situation," Naruto answered his voice filled with a seriousness that was not accustomed to. He wasn't going to sit back and let this happen; he wasn't going to run from the screams. _I won't let her be in the pain that Sasuke went through._

-----

She opened her eyes to find herself lying on a bed. _Where the hell am I? _She scanned the room looking for clues. Her heart raced as she thought of the possibilities, what if she had been raped? She looked down to see that her clothes were still on her body. Moving her legs she felt no traces of any unwanted pain. She was safe as far as she was concerned.

"You're awake," a voice called from the corner of the room he eyes darting to see who it was. "Did you get enough sleep?"

"Kabuto?" she asked as she sat up in bed. "Where am I?"

He smiled gently at her, shivers running down her spine as he adjusted his glasses. "This is a local inn, I thought it would be perfect for what I'm going to discuss with you. I'm going to brief you on what my mission is," he took a deep breath. "You know Itachi Uchiha, right."

"A little," she answered lightly.

Kabuto smiled broader. "Well, it seems as though he could easily lure an organization named Akatsuki into this place that we like to call Konoha. He's a dangerous man no doubt, his powers being unmatched by even the strongest ninja in this village. He took out ninja such as Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake and Asuma Sarutobi, a member of the Protectors of Fire. A handful of ANBU have also fallen at his feet," he looked into her eyes as he took a deep breath. "He's also assaulted your friend."

"I wouldn't say assaulted," Sakura answered, her voice rising a little.

He nodded. "Raped and mauled your teammate. This man is a threat to the way that village works," his smile transformed into an evil one. "And he wants to destroy your friend Naruto. He's after what's within his body; he's going to kill him."

Her eyes widened. "Kill Naruto?"

Kabuto snickered as he looked at her. "Think of what that bastard's done to you, to your friends. He has single handedly destroyed all of the possible sanity that you kids strive for. I know for a fact that there is a place outside of this hell that makes all of this go away," his voice transformed into a whisper. "I made ties with another village that had a problem with Itachi's ways. It's called the Village Hidden in Sound," he reached down to grasp a forehead protector a music note on the metallic part. "I can show you their ways if you want me to."

She moved out of the bed as she walked toward him looking straight at the forehead protector. Sound, that word made shivers run down her spine. She had no clue why she was drawn to this power that he was talking about. Through it all she always thought that Itachi wasn't as evil as he was cut out to be. She thought there was some mercy inside his heart. She was wrong. Itachi didn't have a heart.

"_It's not that easy. If you read that clipboard over there you would know. The psychological damage that Itachi's genjutsu caused is making me unfit to be a round you. They believe that I may act violently or I might let other emotions get in the way of your training."_

Sakura grasped the forehead protector. "What do I have to do for you to be satisfied with me?"

"It's simple," he smiled broadly. "I want you to get closer to those two friends of yours and watch Sasuke closely. My research has shown me that he has been up to shady business. I'm not sure if he's involved with Itachi, but if he is, then it might be too late to save him. Unless," he took a deep breath as he pulled out a kunai, "we end him."

Sakura grasped the forehead protector. "And if worst comes to worst and he tries to get to me?"

Kabuto's dark eyes softened. "I will take you back to Sound and you will be safe from his harm. There is a man that can save you from all of this hurt, there's a man that's in the Village Hidden in Sound, that man is Orochimaru. Under Lord Orochimaru's care there will be no way that Itachi Uchiha can hurt either of us. Nor will he hurt Naruto or Sasuke."

"You mean he can save them?" Sakura asked her eyes lighting up. "He can save them from that dark fate?"

Kabuto nodded. "However, I fear if Sasuke has made ties with Itachi it might be too late for him to come back from the darkness. Right now his heart could be completely in darkness, I pray that Itachi hasn't made the ties to strong with him," he looked over at Sakura who was holding the forehead protector tightly. "He is after all Sasuke's older brother, hate or not, turning on his own blood might cause some problems. He might not have the heart to do that."

Sakura closed her eyes. "This Sound Village you speak of, where have I heard about it before? And where have a heard the name Orochimaru before?"

Kabuto shrugged. "It won't hurt you, Sakura," he ran fingers through her pink hair his eyes locking with hers. "I won't let anything hurt you. I can show you a world beyond all of this pain that we have here when Itachi is laughing at our village. There might not be any hope of stopping him, but with your help, I want to try to get rid of him," he watched her jade eyes close a tear falling down her silken cheek. "Don't fret, Sakura, I'm going to save Sasuke no matter what happens."

She nodded as she tried to fight the tears that wanted to fall down her cheeks. "I understand, Kabuto."

"Keep the forehead protector if you like," he smiled at her as he looked into her eyes. "You're going to need it if the worst comes to worst and that bastard Itachi Uchiha needs to know where your loyalties lie. When you face him, you're with Orochimaru; he's the one who will save Konoha."

She looked down at the new item she obtained. "Lord Orochimaru…" she closed her eyes tightly thinking about Itachi, how could he have done all of this to the village. He never seemed that bad when he was around her.

She closed her eyes as anger filled her body, the raging fire rolling through he chest, he eyes opening to looked up at Kabuto. He was the only one that she could trust out of all the people she had met. Naruto was siding with the jounin, agreeing that Itachi should be free. Sasuke might have made ties with Itachi, ties that might not be able to be broken. All she had was Kabuto; he was the only one who understood the pain that everyone was going through. Together they were going to save the village. Itachi Uchiha was going to pay.

-----

Sasuke got out of bed as he looked over at Itachi in the corner, the dark circles of depression even deeper than they were before. All of the thoughts of Shisui had come back to him; he couldn't shake the feeling as he looked at the dagger. He looked lost.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked, walking over to him. "Are you going to be alright?"

He was silent, Itachi's silence always made blades crawl underneath Sasuke's skin. Behind those empty sable eyes he was thinking about what was going on throughout the past few days. There was something about that moment in the woods that was bothering him. Sasuke had enough of that.

"What happened when I was unconscious?" he asked as he saw Itachi look up at him, his eyes filling with some life. "When he knocked me out and you fought him, what did he do to you?"

Itachi took a deep breath looking up at his younger brother. "We went into a battle. There's nothing more to it. I won. He lost. I came back here with you as fast as I could."

Sasuke scoffed. "It's more than that. What did he say?"

Itachi's eyes filled with a sorrow that resembled eyes on the verge of tears mixed with the hate that he had been demonstrating since the night that they met again. He let out a low breath as he bit at his lower lip, his teeth skewering at the flesh. He remembered it clearly trying to fight the urge to run all the way to that Goddamn village and making that geezer pay for what he was thinking.

Itachi's eyes closed tightly as he tried to avoid looking at Sasuke. _He wants to use Sasuke as a container? He wants to use the only thing that matters to me as a new body? How could he even think about getting close to this boy? When was he going to do this to him? If he even thinks about touching him…_

He reached to stroke Sasuke's cheek hearing the young boy's breathing shudder. Sasuke's eyes closed, turning to kiss at Itachi's palm, a giggle going through his body moving closer to Itachi's, his lips touching the older ninja's in a passionate connection. Itachi grasped onto him tighter, the thought of losing Sasuke to that man, the thought of never having this warmth was enough to make him want to jab Shisui's dagger right through his chest a hundred times, without end.

The hate that was in Sasuke's heart was depleting as the moments with him went on, but how long until he was finally able to get out of that man's clutches. He took Sasuke's body tighter into his arms as he returned the kiss viciously. He was never going to give him up; he would die before he saw the day that Sasuke gave his body to that bastard.

"Sasuke?" he asked backing away. "Have you had any run-ins with a man named Orochimaru?" he moved to turn Sasuke's head to the side looking for any seals that he might have left on him. By now he should have had his body memorized, but his negligence could have been the downfall of his dreams. He found none; he was still untouched by that man's horrible promises. He wasn't too late.

"Who the hell is Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked as he looked into his brother's eyes. "Itachi? What are you talking about? Why are you searching my neck?" he let out a low breath as he looked at the other side. "You're the only one who's touched me; I swear to God, you're the only one."

Itachi's eyes filled with anger. _If he was that important to Orochimaru, then why is Kabuto trying to kill him? That bastard is trying to foil his plans, Kabuto isn't here on the behalf of making ties between Akatsuki and the Sound Village, he's here just to make my life hell. _He looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Don't you ever go anywhere when you hear that name?"

"You aren't the boss of me," Sasuke hissed.

_Bam! _A searing pain ran though Sasuke's cheek as the back of Itachi's right hand ran across his face, the metal of the ring breaking the skin lightly. It burned, seared, scalded his flesh. The look in his eyes did nothing less than that effect, but it wasn't anger, it was like he was begging him to listen. Itachi was pleading.

"Don't go anywhere with that bastard or I will tear you limb from limb," Itachi growled lowering his hand to see the shock rise in Sasuke's eyes. "They're here for me; you don't have to get involved in this. That man in the robe… he was after you…"

Sasuke rubbed gently as his own cheek his eyes closed as he winced. "Is that the Orochimaru character that you're talking about?"

"No," Itachi took a deep breath. "The organization that I'm part of, the Akatsuki, it's a group of S-ranked criminals that meet up in order to obtain the power to overrule all of the capabilities of all of the lands. They are a group of ruthless ninja, the best in the game; half of those guys in there make what I do look like the basics."

He wrapped his arms around Sasuke in a tight hug. "Akatsuki?"

"They look throughout the lands for the great tailed beasts in order to extract their power so that they wield it all. It's a job that requires everything to be put on the table, even your own life. Most people never make it out alive," Itachi heard Sasuke whimper as he buried himself in his chest. "They want to silence me before I can give off any information or hinder their plan."

The young boy wrapped his arms around his brother. "So that man in the woods the one that touched me, he's in the Akatsuki?"

Itachi scoffed. "No way in hell. That man is a medical ninja named Kabuto Yakushi, a medical ninja from the Sound Village. He came as a representative. He might look weak, he's only listed as a genin, but he's jounin level. He is the man that Orochimaru chose to be the one who sits by his side as a right hand man," he took a deep breath. "He's at the level of your precious Kakashi-sensei. That's no matter to me though; I took Kakashi out no problem. However, his specialty is medical ninjutsu, something that I've been struggling with."

Sasuke glanced at the uneasy look in Itachi's eyes. "Itachi, why is this so important? If you know that you can beat him, why are you so worried?"

He wanted to tell him, he wanted to say that Kabuto was going to bring him back to the Sound Village to make him Orochimaru's new body. He wanted to tell him that one by one the Akatsuki were going to come for him, they were going to destroy the both of them. He wanted to tell him that this whole mission was foolish and he should walk alone, leaving Sasuke behind.

"He's searching for an accomplice," Itachi answered quietly. "He's looking throughout Konoha to pick up anyone who he can, someone who could help him in destroying me," he clutched his ribs in pain coughing lightly. "The more I think about that man out there picking people up, the more that I think about what he's going to do to you. He knows that you're an easier target, he's going to try to attack you if we are ever in the midst of battle again."

"Itachi," Sasuke started as he held onto his brother's shoulders hearing him cough. "Take it easy, I can handle myself if he comes to me. I do have Shisui's dagger, Shisui never lost a fight, not until you came around. That dagger might prove to be good luck to me," he looked into Itachi's dark eyes. "After all you did have a reason for giving it to me."

Itachi smiled gently as he looked down at the dagger. _He has a will like yours, stubborn too. No matter what the situation, he wants to go all out, put everything on the table even if he doesn't have the strength to ante up again. _He looked up into Sasuke's dark eyes as he took the dagger putting it in its respective holster. He had grown from the kid who was sloppily throwing shuriken; he had grown from that sobbing little boy that night. The growth was so amazing that he wasn't even that one who he had tortured. His will was strong, his spirit unbreakable.

"If he comes back to get you, I'll kill him," Sasuke breathed as he stood up looking down at his older brother, a smile towing gently at the corners of his lips. "I'm not going to let anyone kill you, not if I wasn't strong enough to do it."

Slowly he moved to the side of his bed searching through a drawer. "Sasuke?"

"You and I aren't so different, Itachi, not when it come to the fact that we both have pieces of our weakness and survival. On your left arm is that ANBU tattoo, you bear the awful weight of that ring on your finger, the mangekyou sharingan. In order to get those powers your soul was weakened," he pulled something out of the drawer. "However, my weaknesses are not associated with power, but idiocy."

Itachi's eyes widened as he watched the item being pulled out. It was called a sign of weakness when in fact it was at a time where he was unable to even breathe. Slowly he slipped it onto his right hand, it fit surprisingly. Curling his fist Sasuke looked over at his brother to hear him utter a single phrase.

"Kakashi Hatake's glove…" Itachi gasped as he looked at Sasuke. "Where did you…?"

"When I went into his hospital room when he was comatose, I took something of his to give me strength. Even though I hate him for what he did to you, and I hate him for being so weak, I wanted to keep a piece of him with me," he took a deep breath as he explored the glove. "He taught me what I ninja was when everyone else was being too much of a caring person. He showed me that it's not always beautiful what we do, but we do it anyway."

Itachi's eyes widened in shock. "He taught you all of that?"

"He also taught me about what revenge is, what it does to people," he looked back at his brother. "His words were the inspiration for me giving you a second chance. Killing you, making you pay, all these thoughts did was cloud my mind from what I was trying to do. I lost myself in it; I thought you were the same as you were that night. When you came into my hospital room and you showed that you do care, it made me smile," he looked deeply into Itachi's eyes. "You're the Itachi I loved."

Sasuke started moving toward the door hearing his brother call out. "Come back soon. If you're gone for too long I'm going to get worried, but Kabuto will probably not attack you as long as you don't show any initiative."

Sasuke nodded. "What will you do while I'm gone?"

"I'll be working on that damn jutsu, I'm halfway there," Itachi snickered as he looked at the books. "Time for preparing that jutsu is of the essence. It's the fear of losing you that makes me work harder. If I can heal you, then…"

"Don't push yourself too hard," Sasuke smirked. "It's a bitch to clean up all of your blood. Besides, you know that no technique is worth your life."

Itachi heard the door open and close as Sasuke left him. _Did you really do all of that Kakashi? You opened his eyes to what it was like outside of that dark world. You're helping me more than I thought you would._

Itachi had a plan; a plan that he had no clue that Kakashi had just helped him with. The darkness that was in Sasuke's heart was the only reason why Orochimaru could get his hands on him, depleting the darkness would make all of the pain go away faster. Orochimaru wasn't going to win this.

"You should have thought twice before messing with me," Itachi snickered as he opened the book. "I'm not going to let you bastards win anything. The body that you desire more than anything, it's gone now, Orochimaru," he laughed louder. "He belongs to me!"

-----

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" Gai asked, looking over at Kakashi who was getting out of the hospital bed. Today was the day of his discharge, he was home free now. A month in the hospital had passed quickly for him. Breathing was back to normal; heart rate was at a steady pace. He was almost perfect except for one thing that he was branded: the cane.

He was given a cane by the doctors to take some stress off of his legs allowing him to walk easier. It hurt Gai to see Kakashi like this. He was worth more than this, he was better than this pain. He didn't deserve this, he cared too much for his student, saving him he risked everything, his career was gone with a single glance from Itachi's eyes. Still he refused to hurt him.

"Are you going to be alright in there?" Gai asked as they walked out of the room down the long hall. "I hear it's intense. Kurenai said that he's barely even himself. He barely speaks to anyone. He's not like you Kakashi, he's not going to bounce back from this so quickly."

"I know, Gai," Kakashi stated as he looked over at his colleague. "But I want to see him; he needs people more now than he ever did before. I know what it's like to have your career stripped from you. It's painful," he continued to move on as Gai stopped.

"Kakashi," Gai stated. "I'm concerned about you, if he gets to you too much, if he upsets you, you could go into cardiac arrest. We could lose you anytime that you try to do something reckless," he shook his head. "I'm not going to stand here while you throw your life away."

The clicking of the cane continued as he continued to walk down the hall, not listening to Gai's words. His mind was elsewhere, the visions of Sasuke running through his mind. His student that he had the most in common with was the one who had just joined forces with a man who hated him. It was painful, no matter what he did; he couldn't stop it from happening.

"Kakashi," Gai stated as he caught up to him. "I'll be waiting outside the door for you to come out. I'll take you to my place where you're going to stay until the doctors see you fit to be alone."

He continued to walk down the hallway as he looked straight at the doorway that Asuma was behind. He was going through the same torture; he wasn't able to continue his life as a ninja. This marked the end of his career for too long to wait. There was nothing that either of them could do. Asuma was worse off, actually being on the wrong end of Itachi's sword skills. ANBU really trained him well. He was too good for his age; no one was going to be able to beat him.

"You don't want to see him?" Kakashi asked as he looked back at Gai. "I mean the last time that you saw him was before what happened at the Hokage's office. Did you two leave each other on good terms?"

Gai shook his head. "I told him to go fuck himself."

"I guess that means that he never wants to see you again," Kakashi stated as he walked through the doorway looking back at Gai. "Don't wander off too far, you have to come back and get me."

The other jounin nodded. "I understand," he slowly walked away looking back at Kakashi, the cane in his hand. It was painful, clasped in his hand was the reason why he would never go on a mission again. He read the file over and over hoping that there was some way that he was confused with someone else, but it was to no avail. It all matched up, it made perfect sense. The psychological damage was too deep for even Kakashi to face meaning that Itachi had intent to kill him.

Slowly he walked down the hall as he thought about all that happened. Kakashi's team was in an uproar. Sakura was missing, Naruto locked himself in his apartment, and Sasuke hadn't been seen in over a week. Sasuke however was another story, he had a man after him, Itachi was slowly getting closer to him everyday. The criminal's hunger for Sasuke was insatiable; he would go to extremes just to be with him. He vitally wounded Asuma, he made Kakashi suffer mentally. Now no matter how much Gai wanted to go after him and question his motives, if he even touched him he would be tried for treason.

"Didn't think I'd see you over here," a voice called out to Gai. "I thought you were done with Asuma."

He turned around to see who the voice was, it was Kurenai. She had been at the hospital everyday, not to ask the doctors about what happened to Kakashi, but what happened to Asuma. It tore her up on the inside that he was getting destroyed that ruthlessly. His life as a ninja was over. He was never going to be able to fight with the same amount of pride as before. His dignity was taken by the village, and now his skills were taken by the man that he was trying to protect.

"I'm not here for Asuma," Gai scoffed.

Her eyes avoided his glance. "Kakashi's in there isn't he?" she looked back up at him slowly. "How is he doing? I heard that he was pretty bad a couple days ago."

Gai closed his eyes. "Kurenai, his days as a ninja are over. The after effects of the genjutsu were enough to make his body in a fragile state, his mind starting to take over bodily functions in a negative way. He's losing control over the way that he thinks, Itachi's spell is still thick," he looked at her with worried eyes. "You're a genjutsu specialist; can't you give me any tips on how to save him?"

He ruby eyes looked at the ground. "Itachi's genjutsu is nothing like any genjutsu that I have ever seen. Compared to Tsukuyomi, my genjutsu looks like child's play. People can usually dispel genjutsu, but not Tsukuyomi, it's almost irreversible."

"How did he get that strong? I remember he was just a kid who barely knew what genjutsu was," Gai sighed. "It's that sharingan of his. It not only increases his genjutsu abilities and perception, but his accuracy is unmatchable. He's almost perfect when it comes to chakra control, using just the right amounts to save up for his major attacks that cause critical damage to his opponents."

Kurenai looked into the direction of the doorway that Kakashi and Asuma were behind. "That's why Asuma said we shouldn't go against him."

"There's a simple solution to fighting eye techniques, if you don't look into the eyes then the genjutsu can't take hold," he crossed his arms over his chest. "And then using taijustu, he can easily be destroyed."

Kurenai shook her head. "If he has Sasuke on his side…"

Gai sighed as he looked into her eyes. "Even if he did have Sasuke on his side, do you think that would distract my focus on Itachi? Sasuke's genin level, I'm a jounin. However, Itachi is at a jounin level, he is skilled in methods of combat that I don't think we're ready to face. Out of all the people who could have possibly come in here, I wish that it wasn't him. He killed his cousin, you've heard of him right?"

Kurenai nodded. "Shisui the Mirage, who hasn't heard of him? He was a child prodigy who mastered the Body Flicker at a young age. Not to mention he was a master with daggers, he never went into battle without one. He taught Itachi quite a few of his techniques. Thanks to Shisui, Itachi has become powerful."

Gai looked at the doorway. "Kakashi is the only one who can put an end to this madness. He is the only one who can get through to Sasuke in time, and put an end to Itachi Uchiha's ways." He closed his eyes tightly. _I just hope he can. I believe in you, Kakashi._

-----

He walked toward the bed, Asuma gazing at the window at the rain. There was a distant look in his eyes as he looked at the rain falling up against the window. The pain that was rolling through his body, made Kakashi's cane seem like nothing.

EKG, tubes, wires, everything that Kakashi never wanted to see one of his colleagues attached to was all there now, haunting him to now end. All he could hear was the sound of metal hitting bone as he tried to think about what Asuma went through. Itachi was ruthless, he was lucky that he wasn't paralyzed.

Then it hit him, Itachi wasn't trying to kill Asuma, he was trying to set an example for the village to follow. It wasn't like in the hospital room. Unlike his anger for Kakashi, he didn't want to kill Asuma, his aim missing the spinal cord along with any major arteries. This as a sign of mercy.

"Asuma?" he asked as he hobbled over to the chair next to him watching as broken eyes glanced over at him. "How have you been for the past few days? Long time no see. Last time I saw you, you were bleeding at the bottom of a staircase."

"Kakashi?" Asuma asked as he looked at the younger ninja. "You're awake? Oh my God, you're still alive," sat up his eyes gaining some emotion. "I thought that you were dead."

The younger jounin took a deep breath. "There are miracles that happen every single day. It was a miracle that I was able to break free from that genjutsu. It's the strongest genjutsu that I know. However, you weren't subjected to that attack, you were hit with a sword," his voice thickened with seriousness. "Did you hurt him?"

Asuma took a breath. "Are you concerned about him?"

"Oh come on, Asuma, you've been known to attack your opponents with no mercy at all. I saw the bandages that were on his body, you really beat him up didn't you?" Kakashi beamed, a smile concealed by his mask. "The kid wouldn't have hurt you unless you hurt him first."

The older ninja looked out the window. "Why do you think that I did it? I did it to make the decree become a reality. I know what's going on between Sasuke and Itachi," he looked into Kakashi's eyes. "Do you?"

Kakashi nodded. "They're in love."

"I know that pains you since you and Itachi have a history," Asuma looked at the gaze that was fixated on the ground bleeding from his colleague's eyes. "I know what you feel toward Itachi. You feel pity for him…"

"I don't pity him," Kakashi answered, looking over at him. "Why would I pity such a person? He's got everything; he's getting closer to his plan. All he can think of is Sasuke… he's taken him from me."

"You let him go?" Asuma asked as he sat up more. "After all that you went through, you just let him leave? Kakashi, do you know how much danger he's getting himself into? Itachi can't protect him for long, no matter how much he loves him. I know that Itachi is changing, morphing into a different person than before. The Itachi that I heard of that night would have killed me instantly. He instead decided that he wanted me to be kept alive but out of commission," he looked into Kakashi's eyes. "What did he do to you?"

There was a slight silence, Kakashi's glance moving to the ground closing in the process. He knew that Asuma was in pain, but the doctors said that he was going to heal in no time at all with little mental damage. Asuma was going to live through this; he was going to be able to be with his team again. He was going to get his life back. Kakashi was different, now as he closed his eyes all he could see were the two of them together, Sasuke's body being subjected to Itachi's perversion.

_He belongs to me, _he could feel everything like it was real, he could practically hear Itachi's laughter as he drew Sasuke into the shadows. The boy that he once called a student was leaving him slowly. He belonged to the darkness.

Kakashi opened his eye to see that he was still here. Sasuke and Itachi nowhere in sight, but that smug grin would always be across Itachi's face as he snickered, laughing at him for not even being able to save his student from him. Now it was worse, Sasuke would soon laugh with him, as his eyes became even more bloodthirsty, the darkness taking all of the soul that he once had.

"Kakashi?" Asuma asked, breaking him out of his spell. "What the hell did Itachi do to you?"

He closed his eyes again. "I'm not a ninja anymore…"

"One failure doesn't mean that you're not a ninja anymore," Asuma explained looking at Kakashi, there was something deeper than the loss, something had happened to him that made him not able to carry out his missions. "Kakashi?"

"Asuma," Kakashi stated. "You're going to be alright as soon as your wounds heal, they're just physical wounds after all. My wounds however are psychological."

"Psychological?" the older jounin asked. "How deep?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm not even going to be able to do any light work. They're afraid that I could go into cardiac arrest at any time," he looked at Asuma, his eyes watering lightly. "Twenty-fifth principle…"

"I could have stopped this," Asuma stated, looking down. "I failed the village and I kept spreading my curses as I went to the Hokage's office. I didn't get what I deserved; I should have been the one who was under genjutsu."

"Asuma," Kakashi started. "We're out of commission together; we are the only two who understand what Itachi is trying to do. We're the only ones who picked up the signs that he's here for Sasuke. If this pain that we're going through was the price that was needed to obtain that information, then so be it."

Asuma's eyes traveled over to Kakashi. "You're pretty accepting, I thought that you would have taken this harder, he did just ruin your career."

Kakashi looked at the ground and then back up at his colleague. "I'm going to get out of this state then I'm going to go after them. I know the man better than anyone in this village does. If I can't get through Itachi then no one in Konoha can."

"The Hokage won't let you," Asuma stated his eyes closing in shame as he fisted the sheets. "You can't hurt him or that's treason."

Kakashi stood up taking the cane with him as he looked down at the wounded jounin, his single eye filled with hope. No matter how loud the laughter was he could still hear the weeping that Itachi was trying to suppress. He could reach him; he could be the one who stopped the madness.

"Who said anything about hurting him?" Kakashi asked as he started to turn away feeling Asuma grasp his wrist. "Asuma?" he looked into brown eyes seeing the concern within them. His eyes resembled that day when he fell down the stairs right before the moment where his life was taken away.

His body was pulled closer, a gasp leaving his lips as he felt Asuma's body heat up against his chest. Was Asuma hugging him? It was confirmed when he felt strong hands press up against his back pulling him closer still. The warmth circulated deeper as he could feel Asuma breathing on him, the breaths ragged like he was on the verge of tears. Guilt was there, it wasn't going to leave Asuma for the rest of his life. Maybe he was left with something more than physical pain as well.

"Don't get yourself hurt," Asuma whispered holding onto Kakashi tighter. "Promise me, Kakashi, that you won't hurt yourself."

Kakashi sighed wrapping his arms around Asuma returning the embrace closing his eyes tightly. He wasn't hugging Asuma in his mind, but that young boy who had always been near him: Itachi. He was hugging Itachi right now, feeling the young boy's weak embrace around him as he left him behind, the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I promise," he closed his eyes tighter remembering what Itachi was. He wasn't a criminal back in the days when Kakashi was around him, he was caring. He was distant though, not very trustworthy, Kakashi was one of the only people he could trust he stated at one time. Kakashi was like a father to him, combined with a best friend.

He backed away from Asuma. "I'm going to get Sasuke back and I'm going to make Itachi tell the truth of his actions. We could uncover more mysteries about the massacre if he admits to everything."

"That sounds easy enough," Asuma answered as he watched Kakashi walk away hearing the click of the cane up against the floor. "If he goes through with it, after all, he is related to Sasuke, and if stubbornness runs through the family then we'll never get through. Try Kakashi, like you said, you are the only one who can save them from the darkness, Sasuke and Itachi," he took a deep breath. "Even if it's too late for Itachi."

Kakashi shook his head. "This is the darkest period of time that Itachi has been through, if we can get rid of his desperation then we can save him," he opened the door Gai standing right outside. "It's not too late…"

Asuma looked at Gai and nodded. "Just don't hurt Itachi, Kakashi. The kid's going through something right now. He's seventeen; his mind is in a mess. He doesn't know what he wants now that he's been dropped from that organization."

Kakashi nodded. "I know, Asuma," he walked out to meet Gai. _Let's just hope that I'm not too late…_

-----

Sasuke walked down the street looking straight at the ramen bar, seeing a ghost of the past sitting at the counter. After all of the time that he hadn't seen him, he was finally out of his apartment. He didn't look like the same person though; the orange jacket that he wore over his black shirt wasn't zipped up, the forehead protector that he had taken so much pride in was no longer tied around his forehead.

"Naruto?" he asked walking closer to the ramen bar. "Is that you?"

Naruto looked back. "Sasuke? You came to me," he smiled lightly as he spread his arms, begging for an embrace. "Come here."

Sasuke complied reluctantly. Ever since that night when he almost killed him he was scared of touching him. Naruto shouldn't trust him anymore, yet here he was spreading his arms for him to come closer. He moved forward hugging him gently, resting his chin on Naruto's shoulder.

"This isn't a date," Naruto stated. "So don't try any of that seduction that you've been pulling on me lately. I don't think of you in that way," he tightened his grip around his best friend. "Thanks for the flowers by the way. It was nice to know that you weren't trying to push me out of my apartment."

Sasuke sighed as he sat down next to him. "Those were for an apology, you need one after what happened. I didn't mean to depress you, I was confused. I fucked up…"

"You didn't fuck up," Naruto answered, looking at his best friend. "I know that you feel bad about that night," he took a deep breath. "However we didn't come here to talk about you tonight. There's a much more serious matter…"

"Oh?" Sasuke asked looking into cold blue eyes. _Something bad happened, what the hell is it? _He closed his eyes tightly as he clenched his fists. "What happened to you, Naruto? Did someone come after you?"

He shook his head. "Worse than anything that could happen to me. We have a missing genin from Konoha. No one has seen them since yesterday when they were abducted from the hospital. That's all that I got from Ino Yamanaka anyway."

"Why are you so formal?" Sasuke asked with a small laugh. "And why does this concern us?"

_Bam_! The sound of fists hitting the counter filled the atmosphere, Naruto's breathing heavy as he looked over at Sasuke. Those once friendly blue eyes changed, but they were no longer cold. He could see a tinge of red fire deep within them, a fire that he had only heard of before.

"It does concern us!" he let out a strangled cry as he grabbed Sasuke's collar.

Sasuke moved his hands to grab Naruto's wrists his eyes narrowing in confusion. "We're not jounin, Naruto. There's nothing that we can do to save a person. Have you talked to Gai or Kurenai about this?"

Naruto panted as he tightened his grip. "Sasuke, the person that was taken was Sakura…"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he thought about the last time that he had seen her, it had been weeks. Never would he think that she would go missing. All he could think about was what Itachi had told him had happened. There was no way in hell that she would have done that. Sakura would never betray Konoha like that; she would never betray Sasuke and Naruto.

"_He's searching for an accomplice. He's looking throughout Konoha to pick up anyone who he can, someone who could help him in destroying me. The more I think about that man out there picking people up, the more that I think about what he's going to do to you. He knows that you're an easier target, he's going to try to attack you if we are ever in the midst of battle again."_

He closed his eyes as he thought about that man with Sakura. Itachi spoke of him like he was a monster, and he worked for Orochimaru. There was no way that she could have gone off with a man that dangerous. Sakura was smarter than that. Wasn't she? Sakura was better than that. Wasn't she?

"Where was the last place that you saw her?" Sasuke asked, remembering the scared look in Itachi's eyes, the dagger that was up against his chest as he saw a tear form in his eyes. He never saw him like that when he was up against anyone else. He never heard him say Shisui's name like that. Kabuto Yakushi was the only person who could break through Itachi's weakening barrier.

"I haven't seen her since she left my doorstep," Naruto answered as Sasuke stood up starting to walk away. "No, you aren't going anywhere on your own. You're going to try to be the hero of this story aren't you?"

"This is no time for our rivalry," Sasuke growled, taking hold of his dagger, grasping it tightly. _This is the time where you pay for what you did to me, you son of a bitch! We'll see who gets hurt this time!_

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, cocking his head to his right as he let out a gasp. "Whoa! Where the hell did you get that dagger?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "That doesn't matter," he started walking toward the darkness. "I'll tell you later. Now if you want to come with me, hurry up, moron," he picked up the pace starting to run away from the ramen place. _Please Sakura; don't be with that man!_

Naruto started to run after him, panting lightly. "Sasuke! You shouldn't run with pointed objects! You could hurt someone!"

Sasuke gripped the dagger tightly as he continued to run away from his friend. Thoughts of that man running through his head. This dagger was the one that Itachi wanted to end it all with, the one that he had spent all night glaring at. Kabuto had to have said something about Shisui, something that Itachi could never forgive. This man was ruthless, not holding back even though he knew that Itachi was at an emotional low and in physical distress.

"Sasuke, you bastard!" Naruto continued running as he closed his eyes tightly. _Bam! _He felt himself slam into Sasuke's back, his weight falling on top of him, the dagger falling to the ground. Opening his eyes he saw what the culprit was. Right on top of Sasuke he saw the body of the one that they had been looking for, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Ouch," she muttered as she looked up to see who she landed on, a blush rolling across her face. "Sasuke?" she backed away slowly as she looked down at him. "I didn't mean to bump into you."

He opened his onyx eyes, his gloved hand moving to grasp his dagger returning it to his holster, struggling to get to his feet looking at Sakura. _There's no way in hell that she was touched by him. There was no way that Kabuto would be able to touch her if she still looks at us with respect._

Naruto glanced up at her. "Where have you been? We've been worried about you. We were just running off to go looking for you. Ino told us that you were missing since yesterday in the hospital."

Sakura's eyes looked up and down Sasuke's body, noticing the love bites that were at his neck. He watched as he green irises gazed endlessly at him, his eyes avoiding her glance. She was catching on faster than he would have liked her to. Every time he left Itachi to go out into the real world it was getting obvious.

_I really need to tell Itachi to calm down, he's going to blow our cover, _he straightened out his clothes as he looked at her. "Sakura, where did you go?" he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Were you hurt?"

She shook her head gently as she looked into his dark eyes. "No, I'm fine Sasuke," she gazed closely at the marks that were on his neck. _He's getting closer to him, isn't he? Itachi just won't stop hurting him…_

"_I'm not sure if he's involved with Itachi, but if he is, then it might be too late to save him. Unless, we end him."_

"Where were you?" Naruto asked, irritation obvious in his voice his eyes burning with blue fire. "We were about to inform the jounin that you were gone. We were going to inform the whole village that we had to go looking for you."

Sakura looked over at Sasuke. "Actually I want to talk to you all about something," she smiled gently as she walked toward the ramen bar. "It looks like the two of you already started talking."

Naruto got up and started to follow her. "You have a lot of explaining to do. You made me worried sick!"

As the two of them walked away to the bar, Sasuke looked over at Sakura. There was something different about her, something almost eerie. She wasn't the same as the girl that he left, the way that she looked at him was different. It was far from that annoying girl that he had too much of. She was tracking him, observing him closely.

_What's going on Sakura? _He asked as he walked after them clutching his dagger tightly. He would have to watch her closely.

-----

"Again," he panted as he pressed his hands up against his thigh closing his eyes tightly trying to focus his chakra into his fingertips. This was the only jutsu that had made him go through this much pain to master it. His heart was racing in his chest as his lungs were starting to freeze up. "Come on," he breathed heavily, his body shaking lightly. "Damn it…"

He didn't feel the horrible pain that he had felt before in his muscles. There was no blood; it was starting to go his way. _I got the basics down, _he reached back to grab one of his sais, gripping the handle he looked at the shaking muscles of his leg. Slowly he lowered it down to gently touch the flesh blinking once in pain.

"Come on," he winced pulling the weapon back up. "Come on!"

"_But can your body take a little blood loss, kid?"_ He closed his eyes as pain went through his nerves, the sai embedding deeply in his flesh, biting his lip lightly as he tried to hide the torment, the sai almost hitting the bone. He retracted the metal as he opened his eyes watching the blood run from his body, his vision clouding.

"Damn it!" he hissed throwing the weapon across the room, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. He pressed his hands up against his leg. "I can do this," he focused the chakra to his hands, feeling the cells starting to mend. _This is starting to work, the last trait of ninja that I needed is finally at my disposal. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kekkei genkai, weapon techniques, and now medical ninjutsu, I'm starting to get better._

The wound was closing as he focused more chakra into his fingertips. A smile graced his lips as it was completed. He had gotten the technique into a stable state. It still wasn't good enough to use on other people nor on vital wounds. The stinging of the blade starting to return to his leg, the technique only allowing the wound to be healed, not the pain to go away, he was failing it.

"You seem to be having some trouble, Itachi," a voice called out. "Medical ninjutsu just isn't working for you is it?"

Turning to the window, he was faced with the same cold eyes that had haunted him since the day in the woods. The blood that ran hurriedly through his veins, starting to boil, biting gently at his lower lip, his fingers grasping the sai. He rose to his feet, his eyes transforming from onyx to scarlet, unleashing the power of the sharingan.

"Kabuto," he stated his voice cold enough to freeze even the most intense flames. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were doing," Kabuto smirked climbing through the open window. "Really Itachi, did you think that you could avoid me for that long?" he drew closer to the younger ninja. "I never got what I wanted in the woods. I never got to hear you scream…"

Itachi backed away, his eyes not easing up. "You think that I'll let you win that easily? You forget who has the upper hand," he smirked as he tossed the dark hairs of his ponytail back. "The cards are in my favor. I'm stronger than you."

"Physically yes," a laugh escaped Kabuto's lips as he looked straight into crimson irises. "But then there's the mental part of strength. It's true Akatsuki was after you for your immense physical power at such a young age, but your downfall were those damn emotions of yours. I know that on the inside you've wanted to cry for too long," he moved closer pushing his back up against the door.

Itachi looked up into Kabuto's eyes, he didn't seem human anymore. His power was growing more every time that he saw him. The snide grin on his face proving that he had done it, he found an accomplice. The Uchiha's heart stopped dead in his chest, this was a real fight between the two of them. This wasn't a game.

"Kabuto?" Itachi asked his eyes narrowing. "Who? Who did you get to come onto your side? And how? How did you get someone?"

Kabuto moved to Itachi's ear whispering gently. "Jealous aren't you? You're jealous that the power that you always desired is now on my side?" the heat condensed on Itachi's neck a shudder going through his body. "You sought power, you wanted it. It made you have a reason to live. It tastes so good, doesn't it?"

Kabuto's tongue ran across the lobe of Itachi's hear feeling him squirm. "You pervert!"

"Who's the pervert?" Kabuto asked with a laugh as he moved to look Itachi in the eyes again. "I'm not the one who raped my younger brother to get him to come onto my side. I'm not the one who destroyed my family and bathed in their blood. I'm not the one who sold my body to an organization."

Itachi closed his eyes as he snickered. "And selling your body to Orochimaru is any better. Kabuto, when there are people in this world like the Akatsuki and Orochimaru they will use you until your body can no longer be used, and when the day comes and they find you expendable, they will destroy you and everything that you sacrificed to get the power that they can give you was in vain."

"Am I sensing some guilt?" Kabuto asked pushed Itachi deeper into the door. "Itachi, I thought you were above that," he pulled him by his collar closer to him. "Listen to me though, kid, I have an accomplice too, a person who will bend for my every command. I plan on taking them to the Sound Village, the safe haven from you."

The younger ninja coughed once as he looked into black eyes. "No matter how strong they are," another cough his eyes opening to look deeper in those of the enemy, "Orochimaru will kill them without a second thought, he will destroy them. Are you going to continue to kill Konoha ninja until they give me up?"

"No," the medical ninja cooed. "All I want is for you to give me that ring, your brother, and the fox. After I obtain all of those I will gladly leave you alone and you can live for the rest of your life knowing that you were strong, that you had no emotions. That you are Itachi Uchiha, the murderer of the Uchiha Clan."

Itachi spat once, blood rolling down Kabuto's porcelain cheek. "I am not who you think I am! I'm not the same as the stereotype that you are so keen on believing. I'm changed since the last time you met me."

Kabuto let wiped the blood off of his cheek looking into the Uchiha's eyes seeing the fire that was burning deep within. "I will cut down every person in this Goddamn village, even your precious little brother," he snickered. "You thought that because he was a probable container for Orochimaru he was ensured life," he tightened his grip on Itachi's neck hearing him start to gag. "I will have no problem killing him, searching for another vessel might not be so bad. I'll just tell him that you killed him. Yes, Itachi Uchiha wiped out the whole Uchiha clan," his eyes started to burn. "Right before he died!"

_Bam! _He was released soaring through the air until he landed on the ground face down, blood rolling from his nose and lips. The cacophony of Kabuto's laughter was all that he could hear, everything else being blocked out.

"Don't mess with me, Itachi," Kabuto scoffed walking toward the window. "I will take my accomplice to the sound Village, and then I'll be back for you and your brother. The Uchiha clan will die."

Silence filled the room as the wind blew outside, Itachi's eyes closing tightly. "Sasuke… why…?"

He looked down at the blood on the ground and then out at the darkness of the night sky. "I won't lose to you Kabuto. No matter how strong the person that you picked up is, they're no match for Sasuke," he smirked as he started to rise from the ground. "And then, Kabuto… you'll have to face me!"

-----

Laughter filled the atmosphere as they all sat by each other in the ramen bar. Naruto was starting to seem like his old self again, never letting that illuminating smile leave his lips. It made all of the pain that they had gone through everyday since the incidents by the Nakano River seem worth it. Until it had to end.

"I'm going home," Sasuke stated as he stood up, looking down at his friends. "I'm starting to get tired."

Naruto shook his head. "I told you, Sasuke, you can't go anywhere by yourself. That guy is still out there and he's looking for you, until the day when I see Itachi Uchiha dead I will never be able to let you go."

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak as a tremor ran through his body. It wasn't the average shiver. There was something wrong. He never felt like this, never felt so worried that his body would shake. Not since childhood.

_Itachi? _He looked into the darkness, his heart racing in his chest. _What the hell is my Goddamn brother doing now? _He remembered everything that Itachi said. Akatsuki. Kabuto. _Now? They're here for him now?_

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked turning to him. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. "I have to go guys; I'll call you first thing in the morning to tell you that I'll be alright," he started to walk away. "You two stay here and have a good time…"

Naruto turned back to his bowl of ramen as Sasuke walked away, Sakura in a daze as she glanced at the wake that her teammate had left behind. Her green eyes never looked at him the same way all night, not since Ino said that she went missing. There was something going on with Sakura, but what was it?

"Sakura?" Naruto asked looking over at her. "Are you going to be alright?"

She nodded shakily as she stood up. "I need to go home to. My parents are probably going to freak out on me if I don't come home soon," she smiled at Naruto. "I'll call you as well, Naruto. I promise."

Naruto nodded. "Okay, be careful. Don't want you to go missing again.

She giggled as she walked after Sasuke. The second that Naruto was out of her sight, she started to run. Faster and faster she moved, hoping to catch up to him. Hopefully what Kabuto said was right, hopefully Sasuke was free. If Itachi had gotten to him, then she might only have time to allow herself to go to the Sound Village, come back for Naruto when she got stronger.

She slowed down as Sasuke was in her sight. _That was a close one, Sakura. _She crept after him as he walked through the part of the village that was once called the home of the Uchiha. Chills ran down her spine as she looked at all of the empty houses imagining the trauma that must have occurred that night for Sasuke. This was the scene were his brother lost his mind, where he killed everyone.

Sasuke walked to the house that seemed to be the one that belonged to him, the word that seeped off of his lips causing Sakura to gasp in shock. "Itachi?" his voice seemed to be full of concern, his breathing elevated as he knocked on the door. "Itachi?"

The door opened. "What the hell is wrong, Sasuke?" the voice belonged to Itachi; Sakura could make that much out of it. He was the one at the door, there was blood trailing down his nose, a half empty bottle of liquor clasped in his left hand. "Why are you screaming for me?"

Sasuke scoffed. "You've been drinking again!" he shook his head. "I came all the way here thinking you were in trouble but you were just drunk?" he pointed at the bottle of alcohol with his right hand, the black leather glove finally catching Sakura's attention.

_Kakashi-sensei, that's his glove, _she watched as Itachi leaned up against the door frame looking down at his younger brother with a smile. _What the hell is going on? Sasuke was going to come to Itachi's rescue? Am I too late; is Sasuke really on Itachi's side? No, there's still time!_

Itachi ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at the younger ninja. "I'm not drunk, Sasuke, I was working. Doing more research," a smirk came to his face as he moved closer to Sasuke. "I've been researching all day."

The young boy shook his head. "I should kill you for what you did, making me worry like that. I thought you were dead, Itachi."

Slender fingers grasped Sasuke's hand, Sakura wanting to stand up and yell at them. Itachi was going to hurt him, he didn't change. Right before she gave into her urges revealing her spot, she saw Sasuke's hand rest up against his brother's chest, hearing her long time crush coo lightly at the contact.

"I'm alive, Sasuke," he answered, placing the bottle of alcohol on the ground, never breaking eye contact with his brother. "I told you that I'm never going to leave you like that. We're in this together…"

Sasuke closed his eyes, swallowing hard moving to Itachi's lips. "Your heartbeat is so erotic," he took his older brother's lips passionately, Itachi's free hand moving to press up against the crest that was on Sasuke's back.

Sakura's heart was breaking as she saw the raw sexual desire, hearing the moans bubbling from Sasuke's throat. It was too late for him to be brought back, his body craved Itachi's presence more than it had craved his death. Now as his body shook almost sexually up against that of his one true hate's, she knew what was going on for the past few weeks. He was the one guilty of the marks that were on Sasuke's neck.

"I love you," Itachi breathed as he broke free from the kiss.

Sasuke swallowed hard. "I love you too."

Sakura froze in place; it was too late for Sasuke. Her heart was breaking in her chest. While she and Naruto could have been helping they stayed away. He green eyes narrowed as she looked back into the darkness. "The Sound Village, huh?" she asked as she walked away. "I'm on my way, Kabuto," she looked back watching the brothers kiss again. "I'll help you destroy both of them."

She started walking toward the direction of the inn; Kabuto would be waiting for her. She reached into her pouch pulling out the Sound forehead protector. She was going to go through with this. "I'm coming, Kabuto."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This was a long chapter, I'm sorry about that. I also know that people are trying to hate both Sakura and Kabuto, but now their together to work against Itachi (why Sakura is doing this will be explained in later chapters.) I also know that you're all wondering when Itachi's going to get better, as of now I can't really tell you if he does get better or if he dies. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that Sakura and Kabuto should get their asses kicked? Honesty is my policy. 


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or anything that has to do with it.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains blood/violence, yaoi, incest, coarse language, OOC, and the canon is officially not going to come back into play. This is also a long chapter, and it is slightly boring, but I swear that this story will pick up the pace soon. There are also a few mistakes in here that I didn't pick up.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight SasuSaku and NaruSaku, slight ShikaIno, some KabuSaku, references to SasuNaru, traces of ItaKabu, a hint of KakaIta

* * *

She ran faster than she ever had before. She couldn't believe what she had just seen, was it really true? Were the two of them really kissing each other? It didn't make any sense, no matter how hard she thought about it. Itachi had used and abused Sasuke to no end; now Sasuke was going home to him every night. Now Sasuke was going to that man, loving him. Itachi had been lying to her. 

_I thought more of you Sasuke… _she thought as she continued running holding the forehead protector tightly in her hand. _Orochimaru will make everything better, that's what Kabuto said. _She continued to run forward as she looked straight into the darkness. Her breath was starting to cease in her throat.

Stopping she moved her hands to the forehead protector she had worn right now. Why should Konoha matter anymore? Damn Konoha, it was thanks to that village that she had to see the worst sight that she thought she would ever see. They broke her heart by hiding this. She was confused.

The Leaf forehead protector fell to the ground as she clutched the Sound one tightly in her hands. _All of this time, I have always allowed Sasuke and Naruto to do everything. I never really had a chance to form my own opinion. Now I know what I must do, I have to kill Itachi, Sasuke; it's the only way that I can free you from all of this pain._

As she continued to walk she heard footsteps follow her. "Where do you think you're going, Sakura?"

Sakura turned around to come face to face with the last person that she wanted to see at the moment. "Not now, Ino," she continued walking as she turned away from her best friend.

"Sakura?" Ino asked, following her closely. "What's going on with you? I've never seen you like this before. There's something different about you," she crouched down to pick up the fallen forehead protector. "You dropped your forehead protector. What happened? What did Sasuke and Naruto do to you?"

"_I love you too." _Sakura bit her lips, breaking the flesh as she thought about all of the pain that Sasuke put himself through. He said that he may have enjoyed what Itachi had done to him by the river. She never thought that they would fall in love with one another. Itachi killed their family. He killed everything that Sasuke loved. What power could have possessed him to love that man?

"_I'm not sure if he's involved with Itachi, but if he is, then it might be too late to save him. Unless, we end him."_

End him, that's what they had to do know. She had no mercy for that man, not after all of the suffering that he caused the village. She continued to walk away from Ino hearing her friend cry out for her to come back. Ignoring her, Sakura continued walking forward.

"What's going on?" Ino asked as she looked at her wandering best friend. "Sakura, come back here. I don't know where you're going, but I know that it's bad news. Ever since you went missing you've been acting strange. I haven't seen you in a while now," she started to follow her. "Please, Sakura, stop this madness. Come back and we can talk about it."

Sakura sighed. "Ino, what if I told you that I can't stay here," she thought of Sasuke's lips pressed to Itachi's so passionately. "What is here? We have an S-class criminal deep in the village and we can't even do anything about it," she turned to look at Ino. "Don't you care about what happened to your sensei?"

The blond girl looked up at her best friend. "He's going to be alright, sure he's not going to be able to train us for a while, but he's just glad to have come out of there with his life. He thought he was going to die the second that katana hit his flesh, but he was lucky. Itachi went easy on him."

Sakura's eyes became ice cold, Ino's skin constricting as they made eye contact. "And you think that my sensei deserved what happened to him. He's never going to be able to train us again. They have no clue how long that genjutsu will work on him. Nor do they know if his heart and brain will ever work in sync again."

Ino walked closer, her voice rising. "Sakura, is this a stunt? Are you trying to prove that you can be a tough ninja too? That's ridiculous; you don't have to go aimlessly running off pulling off your forehead protector for nothing. Sakura, please, think about what you're doing," she extended her arm, handing the discarded item to Sakura. "Take this back and I'll take you home."

Sakura laughed vilely, an evil chuckle passing her lips, something that Ino had never heard before. "You think that you can stop me? You accepted the fact that this village is going to live in fear. You don't know my pain, you don't know what it's like to lose both of your teammates and no matter how far you reach for them they'll never come back to you."

Ino closed her eyes. "I know that if you do something stupid, I'm not going to allow it to ruin my life, nor am I even going to let you get that far," she scoffed reopening her blue orbs. "Use your head, swallow your pride and come here and take the damn forehead protector!"

Sakura moved her hand slapping the item out of Ino's hand. "That's what I have to say to that forehead protector. That's what I have to say to all of Konoha."

Ino let out a gasp as she heard the metal that hit the ground. All of this time, Sakura had tried her hardest to win the status of ninja; she had fought so hard to show that not all kunoichi were weak. This wasn't the Sakura that she knew, this wasn't the Sakura that she had been rivals with.

"What's gotten into you?" Ino asked grasping Sakura's wrist hearing the other female ninja groan as she tried to pull herself away.

"Let go, Ino!" Sakura snapped jerking at Ino's arm, trying to break free.

"Sakura! Stop being stubborn and tell me what happened," Ino retorted pulling her back. Footsteps came up behind them, both of them stopping what they were doing. Who could be coming out at this time?

"She doesn't have to do anything that she doesn't want to," the voice came closer to them, shivers running down Ino's spine as she looked behind her to see the person who the voice belonged to, she had never seen him before in the village. "Sakura, is this girl bothering you?"

Sakura nodded.

"Then I have no choice but to get her out of the way," the man stated as he walked toward Ino pulling her back by her long blond ponytail. "Listen, little girl, can't you see that you're in the way?"

Ino struggled to break free, her hair pulling painfully at her scalp through he failed attempts. "Who are you? And what are you doing to Sakura?"

He smiled slightly. "My name is of no importance to you, all that you need to know is that your pathetic village is in the way of what Sakura wants. There is no way that you are going to stand with them. You're not stopping us tonight."

He pushed her onto the ground face first hearing her squeal in pain blood spilling onto the ground. Ino's body shook as she tried to catch her breath. Sakura didn't even look down at what had happened keeping a straight look on her face looking up at her savoir, scoffing turning away from dark eyes.

"You're late Kabuto," she stated looking down at Ino's unconscious body. "I was going to go looking for you," green met onyx. "It's too late for Sasuke; he's made deeper bonds with Itachi. I saw the shady activity; it's more than just exchanging information. The two of them seem to… be in love."

Kabuto smiled as he looked down at the younger medical ninja, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Bring me to Naruto, Sakura; we'll go off to the Sound Village to escape from Itachi and Sasuke."

"No," she answered flatly. "I haven't put my trust fully in this Orochimaru. I want to meet him first to see that he really doesn't mean Naruto any harm. I don't know who I can trust anymore. My teammate, the one that I trusted the most was the one who stabbed me in the back. I'm not going to allow myself to do this if I know that it's unsafe."

"You don't trust me?" Kabuto asked. "That hurts, Sakura. I promise you safety and the power to destroy Itachi Uchiha and you repay me with distrust? If you can't trust me, then how can I trust you? How do I know that you'll be a good contribution to Sound?"

She moved her hands to her head, placing the forehead protector back where the old one was. The Sound emblem was now her creed, the one true place where she knew that she was going to be safe. Kabuto had told her that he could help her with everything, even help her become a stronger medical ninja. She trusted him as she moved closer taking his hand gently in hers.

"I'm ready," she answered, looking into his eyes walking by his side. She glanced at what Konoha had become in her mind, looking down at her bloody friend. Konoha was for the weak of heart, the cowards that had accepted the fact that they were never going to be anything compared to Itachi's power. Itachi was the strongest ninja that she had ever heard of who was still in their teenage years, he was able to take out Kakashi. Sasuke was aware of that, that's why he sought his power.

While Sasuke was training under Itachi, learning more dark secrets of the sharingan, she was going to be with Kabuto on the way to the Sound Village. There was no turning back now. This was the road that she took, if Itachi followed her then so be it. She knew what to do in that situation.

_If the moment comes where we are faced with Itachi, then we can only do one thing, _she closed her green eyes tightly moving closer to Kabuto. _We end him right there and dispel the curses that he has planted in Sasuke's mind. I won't lose to anyone. _

She looked up at Kabuto and smiled broadly at him. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity. What can I do to repay you?"

The older ninja smirked evilly. "We'll discuss payment later, Sakura, now we just go through the woods to our destination. If you see Itachi, stand back, his head is mine," he looked down at him pulling her closer. "You can have some of his blood, but his life is mine for the taking."

She snickered looking away from him, tossing her pink hair over her shoulder. "If he gets too close to me, I might have to take him out," she reopened her eyes looking staright at him, burning holes through his flesh. "No hard feelings, Kabuto."

He chuckled. "Just leave him to me."

Together, they went into the darkness, not looking back at what was behind them. All they could do was look forward to their future, their future together. It was on this night when the hunt would begin. Itachi Uchiha would fall.

-----

"Where do you think she went now? It's such a pain in the ass how we have to go looking for her all of the time," Shikamaru stated as he walked through the darkness of the night. "Her dad is going to kill us if we can't find her."

"Relax," Chouji soothed, walking forward trying to ease his annoyed best friend. "Knowing Ino she's just trying to piss you off again. You two can never get along, it's almost as if she hates you."

They continued to walk, chills running through the air. Nights shouldn't be that cold. The chill was intense enough to freeze a fire leaving only the dead embers behind. Their skin was far from a fire as they wrapped their arms around themselves trying to prevent the chances of freezing.

"She better have a good reason," Shikamaru shivered, his voice trembling with his body. "I don't like being out here when it's so cold. I could be at home sleeping right now," he closed his dark eyes tightly as he tried to fight the blurred vision that was plaguing his eyes. "I'd prefer to be sleeping."

Chouji sighed as he was going to open his mouth to speak. It was at that moment when they noticed someone that they would have never expected to see outside of their apartment. "Naruto Uzumaki?"

Shikamaru looked at the young blond boy walking away from the ramen bar. "Tell me, which one of us got you out of that apartment of yours?"

Naruto looked back at them rolling his blue eyes. "You two again."

Chouji smiled. "Long time, no see, runt. We both thought that you were going to be stuck in that apartment of yours forever," he closed his eyes tightly his smile growing. "I thought that you would still be in there."

Shikamaru smiled as well, something was wrong, he never found himself smiling like this. "Which one of us got you out of that apartment?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Sasuke…"

"He's alive?" Chouji asked, looking at Naruto. "Now way in hell, no one had seen him in over a week. We thought that Team 7 had all become recluses," he stepped forward. "By the way, have you seen Ino?"

Shikamaru looked out into the distance. _It's not like her to be out this long. Sure, she's a pain in the ass, but I don't think that she would be out on a night like this. _He started to walk away. "Of course he hasn't, he's probably been with Sasuke all night."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You can't find Ino?" he walked beside them. "I'll help you look. I know what it's like to lose a teammate; you want to find them as soon as possible," he moved closer to Shikamaru looking straight into his eyes. "Are you going to be alright?"

Shikamaru looked down at him. "I'm not worried about her if that's what you're asking. If I were you, I'd be more worried about your team. Both Sasuke and Sakura have been acting like different people," he looked away walking ahead of Chouji and Naruto. "Now hurry up! Stop lagging!"

Chouji walked faster. "Shikamaru, I've never seen you like this before. What do you think happened?"

_Ino? Where are you? Where did you go? _He ran faster, his breath burning in his chest. _Shit, we've lost too many people already. How can we afford to lose another person? After what happened to Asuma-sensei, how could we allow this to happen? _He continued to walk forward not looking back at Chouji or Naruto.

"_You're going to make it; you're going to go on with Ino and Chouji. Even if I do get hurt, I want you to stay strong."_

He failed his sensei; he had told him that he was going to take care of them. If he lost Ino right now, all of the security that Asuma had would be gone. It would be nothing more than empty words that he wasted his breath on. Shikamaru couldn't allow that failure to be a reality.

"Hey Shikamaru," Naruto stated running next to him, finally catching up. "You don't think Itachi got her do you?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "He's only interested in Sasuke; he has no reason to pick Ino up. She's nothing more than a nuisance to him," he continued to run into the darkness. "If we don't find her, Chouji, then we go to the Hokage immediately."

Chouji started to slow down. "Do you think that Ino's in that much trouble? I mean I know neither of us have seen her since this morning, but does that mean that we can't be positive?"

"Time for being positive is over," Shikamaru barked. _I made a promise to Asuma; I'm not going to let the team down because I was too weak. I'm not going to allow myself to deceive him like that._

He walked to the borders of the village in search for her. Ino could have been taken prisoner, but she was a smart enough girl to leave a trail of clues to help them get her back onto their side. Ino wasn't as dumb as everyone thought she was, she had more on her mind than boys, she was also a very talented ninja.

Shikamaru looked at the border of the woods seeing a trail of blood rolling toward him and his companions. There was no way that one person could lose that much blood. What if it was Ino? He moved closer, following the trail of crimson. Shikamaru ran faster, leaving both Naruto and Chouji in the dust, seeing the figure of a young blond girl in the pool of blood.

"Ino!" he shouted running to her side falling to his knees, tearing the cloth of his pants, skinning his knees. "Ino?" he grasped her body turning her onto her back, seeing the blood running from her nose and lips. "Shit," he closed his eyes tightly pulling her closer. "What the hell happened?"

Chouji stopped abruptly as he looked down at his teammates, seeing the trails of crimson running from Ino's face. "What the hell is going on, Shika?"

Shikamaru held her closer hearing her start to come to, a few moans passing through her lips. He held her closer still brushing a few blond locks that had adhered to her face with blood off of her cheek. Quivers when through her body, her eyes blinking once as they opened up.

"Sakura?" she muttered as Naruto reached her side. "Where did she go?"

Naruto looked down at Ino, raising a single eyebrow. "Sakura? What do you mean where did she go?" he closed his eyes tightly. Sakura had been acting weird all night, her eyes never leaving Sasuke for a second; she was gazing endlessly at the mysterious marks that had appeared on his neck. She was up to something that none of them would ever understand no longer how long they tried to analyze her. She belonged to a darker fate.

Ino coughed once, her body shaking, Shikamaru holding onto her tighter. "Ino!"

"I'm fine, Shika," she breathed opening her blue eyes clutching something in her hand tightly, the metallic click drawing Narutos' attention. "Where is she? Where did Sakura go?" she glanced around the area. "Sakura?" she shook lightly as she closed her eyes firmly. "Did I…?"

Naruto crouched down to look at what was in Ino's hand, it was a forehead protector. His blue eyes widened in shock: that was Sakura's. After all of the days when he walked alongside Sasuke and Sakura on their missions, he had grown accustomed to the way that they looked, he could recognize any piece of them no matter how common it was. He could see the traces of pink hair on the headband.

Sakura was gone, he looked up into the woods, his eyes remaining wide, not blinking. "Sakura?" he asked as he moved to his feet started running toward the woods. "Sakura!"

A force held his arm as he tried to walk forward, looking back, he could see Chouji standing there looking into his eyes shaking his head lightly. "No, Naruto, it's over," he pulled him away from the darkness.

Naruto looked back at the group of three. "Ino?" he looked down at the shivering girl watching Shikamaru clutch onto her tighter. "Where did Sakura go?"

She coughed once. "She went away with a man around fifteen or sixteen, but he seemed a lot older than that. I didn't really get a good look at him. All I know is that I've never seen him before in my life."

Naruto closed his eyes as he broke free from Chouji. "Then I have no choice…"

"Whoa!" Chouji shuddered following him. "What are you doing to do, Naruto? If they could take Ino out, what makes you think you have a chance? You honestly think that you can do all of that on your own?"

Naruto bowed his head looking at the ground. "No," he fell to his knees looking over at the forehead protector in Ino's hands. "But as I look at that forehead protector all I can see is my failure. I let both Sakura and Sasuke go off alone. I was a fool to think I could trust them after what happened between Itachi and Sasuke," he slammed his fist up against the ground looking at the splatter of blood spilling from his flesh. "I'm so dumb! I'm so stupid!"

Shikamaru looked at what Naruto had become, losing all of this, his dignity was gone. He felt as though there was nothing he could do to save his teammates from their doom. Although he always thought he was going to do the right thing, he always knew he was going to be wrong.

"_Shikamaru, don't you ever let someone walk all over you. Don't let anyone tell you that you're going to lose. If you give up, then what's the point in being there?"_

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto. "You're not an idiot," he looked down at Ino. "Although I don't like to get involved in huge problems, I understand now that if anything happened to my team I would be the first one out there fighting for their freedom," he smirked as he looked into Ino's eyes. "Are you going to be alright, Ino?"

Ino nodded shakily. "I can walk Shika," he released her helping the young girl to her feet as her eyes looked straight at Naruto. "Naruto," she started. "Sakura is up to something big… something not like her…"

Naruto gasped as he clumsily got to his feet, his body wobbling. "What is she up to? Where did she go?"

"_You think that you can stop me? You accepted the fact that this village is going to live in fear, you don't know my pain, you don't know what it's like to lose both of your teammates and no matter how far you reach for them they'll never come back to you."_

Ino closed her eyes balancing on Shikamaru's shoulder, "Sakura called this village pathetic, she also said that we are living in fear, being controlled by Itachi. She thinks she's losing you and Sasuke, and she's taking this road to save you."

Naruto gulped as he realized what she was doing. "I-Itachi… she's going to go after him," he shook his head trying to shake the feeling of his rising pulse. "She doesn't stand a chance against him. He beat Kakashi-sensei without breaking a sweat."

"He also beat Asuma-sensei," Chouji continued looking at the blond boy. "But Sakura's a smart girl; she wouldn't do such a reckless thing. She knows what Itachi is capable of; she knows that he kills without thought."

"But only with reason," Shikamaru continued.

Chouji looked back at his best friend. "Reason?"

Naruto's eyes widened in fear, his heart was racing on the verge of cardiac arrest. "What kind of reason does he kill for?"

Ino bowed her head as she said the wanted answer, her eyes watering lightly. "He will only attack…" she took a deep breath, "if she attacks him first, that's his M.O."

His heart stopped in his chest as she said that. "But what happened by the river… Sasuke attacked him and nothing happened…"

Shikamaru scoffed. "What Itachi did to him was worse than death. He raped him, Naruto. The only reason why he didn't kill him was because he needed him for some greater purpose."

The blond boy took a step forward. "But Sakura… what if he doesn't kill her?"

Ino sighed. "He will kill her."

Naruto looked at the ground trying to block out all that they were saying. What caused this hatred to grow inside of Sakura? Didn't she understand that Sasuke was supposed to be the one who finished him off? They talked about it numerous times, she seemed to understand. All of the times where Sasuke and him had been fighting, she was the voice of reason, though she usually vouched for Sasuke. Why would she want to take his dream away? Why was she trying to kill his ambitions?

"Sakura wouldn't…"

"Face the truth, Naruto," Chouji barked looking at the member of Team 7, his eyes hardening with ice. "The world is a cruel place and the ones who deserve to get hurt the least are the ones who do."

Naruto's body shook. "You're wrong…"

"Did Sasuke deserve to get raped that night because he was waiting for you?" Chouji asked his voice full of an anger that Naruto had never heard come from him before. Chouji Akamichi was a calm person, this wasn't him.

"Did Kakashi Hatake deserve to get his career taken away?" Ino asked her blue eyes watering as she continued speaking. "Did he deserve that fate because he was trying to get one of his students out of harm's way?"

Shikamaru looked at the ground, his eyes fixated on his feet. "Tell me, Naruto," his voice was rising with a crescendo of sorrowful hatred. "Did Asuma-sensei deserve to be run through with a sword, his dignity taken away in a blink of an eye because he was fighting for what he believed in?" he closed his eyes fighting the tears. "Did he deserve this because he was trying to save that bastard from Gai? He tried to make Itachi's presence not seem so bad, but he was forced to attack him because no one would believe him," a tear ran from his eye as Chouji and Ino looked over at him, their eyes drowning him in concern. "Tell me!"

Chouji moved to Shikamaru's side. "Shikamaru," he soothed hugging him lightly, his hands pressed up against his back, Ino's fingers not too far away. "Don't think about it anymore."

"Asuma…" Shikamaru sniffled as he felt the warm embraces of his teammates, hearing them whisper words of compassion in his ears. "It was because we weren't there to stop it from happening," his voice rose again. "I'll be damned if that happens again," he moved from Chouji's shoulder glancing at Naruto. "A team of four is needed for every mission, and since probably won't be able to get anyone else falls at the same hand," he closed his eyes tightly. "We'll go with you."

"Shika!" Chouji gasped.

"Asuma-sensei said not to go after Itachi, we won't go after Itachi. We're going to stop Sakura from getting to far; we're not going to let anyone else beat us at our own game. We're going to show everyone what Konoha ninja are all about," Shikamaru moved away from his companions. "We're going to the Hokage; he's not going to be able to refuse us."

-----

"That should buy us some time," Kabuto sighed as he rested up against a tree looking at Sakura who was sitting on the ground, a smile on her face as he green eyes looked up at him. "What?"

She smiled broader. "Thank you, Kabuto," she moved to her feet looking into his eyes. "Thanks to you I now understand that the village that I come from is nothing more than a weak society," she took his hand. "Do you think that they will come for me?"

He chuckled. "Itachi Uchiha will. He's been trying to kill me for so long," he ran his fingers through her pink hair that framed the shape of her face. "There are things going on in that man's mind that I will never understand no matter how hard I try to," he saw a grin roll across her face. "Unfortunately that means Sasuke will be with him."

"I can take Sasuke," Sakura stated cockily.

Kabuto shook his head. "Sasuke has been with Itachi, no doubt that he already started to teach him some of his moves. Even if he isn't able to teach him his mangekyou sharingan, he will teach him enough to kill us."

Sakura closed her eyes as she moved away from Kabuto. "Then what do we do? They're stronger than us, we're the underdogs. There's no way in hell that we're going to be able to touch either of them. I saw the dagger that Sasuke had…"

"You mean Shisui's dagger?" Kabuto asked. "Be on your best guard for that, it might look like a weak weapon, but if Itachi has taught him anything, it's to focus chakra through a weapon to cause more damage to the person that he's fighting. Don't get to close to him," he reached into his pouch pulling out various senbon. "I have a trump card as well, senbon."

"Senbon?" Sakura asked looking at the needles. "What do they do?"

"If I fill these with enough poison, it could be able to slow them down a bit," he smiled broadly as he pulled out a small vile. "However this poison isn't used to kill, but paralyze for a while, slowly the heart will slow down and they will remain in a frozen state for some time. When that happens, we take him out."

"And how much faith can I put into these senbon?" Sakura asked as she looked into Kabuto's eyes. "There is only a small chance that they will actually hit someone of Itachi's level. He's amazing; he's the best ninja that I've ever heard of. Kabuto, if he comes, our quest for freedom will be destroyed, he'll kill us."

"Relax, Sakura," he answered. "There's no way that I'm going to let him hurt you. After all, I'm supposed to take him out of the picture. Itachi has lived long enough, but I think it's time for his legend to end," he looked at one of the senbon that were laced with poison. "He's going to die, and you're going to get Sasuke away from him, and even if we have to drag him to safety, he'll come with us."

She laughed as she looked at the senbon. "I can take him out easy, he means nothing to me anymore. All he has become is nothing more than a demon that I must defeat to keep living."

"Don't kill him," Kabuto smirked.

"You can't tell me what to do," she scoffed standing up and walking toward another tree pulling out a kunai. "There's nothing that he can do to stop me. I'll take him and that damn brother of his."

Kabuto looked over at her, his lips curling into a devious smirk. _I've got a strong one on my hands. Let's see how you fare against her, Itachi._

-----

"It's cold out," Sasuke shivered as they sat on the walkway, pulling the Akatsuki robe closer to his body to trap the heat in between his skin as well as the fabric. For further warmth to loosen up his tightening skin, he moved closer to Itachi's body, feeling a strong possessive arm wrap around him.

"Very," Itachi breathed as he looked off into the distance, holding Sasuke closer. "We could go inside if you want," he could feel the vibrations running through his younger brother's skin. "I can stay out here all by myself."

Sasuke shook his head. "No way in hell," he rested his head up against Itachi's chest getting lost in the pulsations of his heart. "I'm not going to let you stay out here all by yourself. I know how you've been lately."

Itachi laughed once almost mockingly. "You really think I'm going to hurt myself after all of the trouble that I've gone through to get you on my side. I've gone up against two jounin, forced the Hokage to let me to what I want, and I got attacked by an insane medical ninja. I'm not going to take myself out of the game that easily."

"_I thought this is what you wanted. Doesn't this just make it all easier? Sasuke, when I look at this dagger you don't know what I see."_

Sasuke bowed his head still resting up against Itachi's chest. "You weren't doing too well the other night, you almost killed yourself with that dagger," he looked up into Itachi's eyes. "There's something going on with you again. I've never seen you get this way. You're tense and you've been drinking more than usual."

"I need to focus," Itachi stated flatly.

"Focus," Sasuke scoffed. "Because that's what we're doing now, we're focusing on your medical ninjutsu. Face it Itachi, you're never going to get that technique right. Just like I never will get that technique that you wanted me to. There are limits to our power."

Itachi shook his head. "There were never limits before."

"Maybe you don't have the control," Sasuke teased kissing at Itachi's chest feeling the arms grip tighten around his body. "Itachi?" he looked at the hand, his eyes closing. "Listen, I don't know who this Kabuto dick is, but he's done something to you."

Itachi bowed his head. "He's acting as the key to open all of the emotions I tried to lock away. Guilt, fear, weakness, sorrow, all of it is starting to drip out. Kabuto Yakushi isn't your normal fighter. He's not like me," he took a deep breath. "He's not human; he has no emotions within him."

"Neither did you," Sasuke retorted backing away. "And what exactly does this Kabuto guy do when it comes to fighting?"

Itachi closed his eyes, avoiding Sasuke's glance, drawing in a breath he mustered the words that he had been trying to hide. He didn't want Sasuke to understand about the way that Kabuto attacked weak points of the human soul, his psychological attacks requiring no chakra, just a foul mind.

"When Kabuto fights to get the upper hand, he attacks his opponent mentally. Kabuto's mind is foul enough so that he knows what weaknesses will slow a person down and then he amplifies it to cause more emotional damage," he looked down at Sasuke. "Kabuto also has strong skills in medical ninjutsu, using more than just for healing purposes. He has the body memorized and he knows where to hit in order to freeze an opponent."

"He sounds skilled," Sasuke breathed.

Itachi scoffed. "He _is_ skilled, but I'm stronger when it comes to physical fighting. However, I'm concerned about you. All of the memories that you have are deeply routed, and there are a lot of them. He's going to try to bring up the rape as well as the massacre. No matter what you do, don't allow it to get to you. He's going to try to split us up from one another. You can't let his lies get to you," he ran a hand through Sasuke's hair. "You can't fall for anything that he says."

Sasuke sighed as he looked straight ahead looking at something that was written on the ground. "Itachi, look!"

His finger pointed to a trail of crimson liquid that lead to the middle of the area. Itachi moved away from Sasuke slowly rising to his feet looking at the mysterious message. It was almost immaculate, not a drop of the liquid away from the words. As he moved closer he saw what it was written in: blood.

"Kabuto," Itachi cursed looking at the letters that stained the ground, trying to make out the letters the message. _"I have Sakura, I win Itachi…" _his eyes opened as he comprehended the mission. He always wanted an accomplice, he finally got one. It was Sakura? Why Sakura, he thought that she was one of the only ones in the village who understood. His heart grew heavier as he looked back at Sasuke. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke looked into his brother's eyes not moving from his spot. "What does it say, Itachi? Is it from Kabuto again?"

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed crouching down next to the bloodstained ground. "Your teammate Sakura…" he let out a low breath of frustration running his fingers through his name written in blood, smudging the "c" and the "h" together, the liquid staining his fingertips. "She's gone off with him. She's decided to be Kabuto's accomplice."

"_He's searching for an accomplice. He's looking throughout Konoha to pick up anyone who he can, someone who could help him in destroying me."_

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Sakura?"

Itachi looked back at his brother his eyes narrowing harshly. "Don't think of her as an ally anymore. She's on his side, she working for them now. You're enemies," he pressed his fingers through Sakura's name, smudging it out of the blood on the ground. "She's nothing to you anymore, nothing more than a level you have to clear to win."

"I can't do that!" Sasuke answered his voice in an irate tone of voice. "She's my teammate, I'm not supposed to turn my back on her evil or not."

Itachi's eyes became empty with everything but anger. "Then you can stay here," he moved to his feet walking toward the house. "If you feel as though there is nothing that you can do, then stay here."

"Itachi," Sasuke could sense the anger in his brother's voice. "I…"

"You'll only be in the way if you can't hurt her," Itachi breathed closing his eyes. "And I don't want you to hurt her. There are some acts that I don't want you to commit; one of them is hurting someone who is that precious to you."

Sasuke shook his head as his brother moved closer to him, walking pat him, his glance not even acknowledging his presence. "Not everything is about Shisui. You got out of there alive, that's all that should count."

"Yeah," Itachi breathed, his voice low shaking with a mix of emotions that wrenched at Sasuke's heart like a blade. "But it's so hard when you lose someone. I don't want that for you. I don't want you to be like me. To surpass me, to finally take me out, you have to be a better person than I am. I killed Shisui because I was too weak to reason with him."

Sasuke looked away from his brother. "Killing isn't a sign of weakness."

"I never said it was. But killing without reason, killing without purpose, that's worse than being weak. If there is no reason to destroy a life, if it's not going to bring something greater, then the spilling of that blood was in vain," Itachi sighed loudly, his breath almost struggling. "That's no way to live a life."

The younger brother stood up. "Itachi, why can't you be at peace? Why do you always have to make me feel this pain on the inside when I hear your name? I used to fear you, but now I fear for you," Sasuke closed his eyes tightly fighting the angry tears that were threatening to fall. "Every time I look at you, I see the darkness starting to engulf you. You're becoming like those Akatsuki bastards."

Itachi snarled clenching his fists tightly. "I am Akatsuki."

"No your not, Itachi. You're letting your hate for them, the hate for our father, the hate for Kakashi, the hate for Shisui, even the hate for me take over you. You're becoming a new person and I hate it," a single drop hit the ground, the rain starting to fall gracefully to the ground. "I want my brother back!"

Itachi glanced over his shoulder. "Sasuke," he closed his eyes as more rain fell onto the ground washing the cursed message away. "If you're with me, then be with me, and if you are not then stay here and wait for my return. There isn't much time before he takes her to the Sound Village," his voice became lower as the seriousness increased a flash of lightning filling the atmosphere. "Are you with me?"

"_If you pledge allegiance to me there's no turning back, once you sell your soul it's gone forever. Are you ready to sacrifice everything to me? Your body, your heart, your soul, everything that you hold near and dear to your heart, will you give it all away to me? Will you serve me and be my companion, be with me?"_

Sasuke stepped forward looking into his brother's eyes dropping the robe right where he stood. "I'm with you…"

"Once you do this," Itachi continued. "You know there's no going back. Once we get there you're going to have to fight your teammate. No matter what the outcome we have to stall them," he looked down as him extending his right hand. "If anything should happen to me, take my ring and run back to Konoha. Destroy the fox, and continue on with the rest of the tailed beasts. I want you to continue my legacy."

Sasuke swallowed hard, his brother could die during this. "I promise."

Itachi smirked. "Very well," he walked into the house. "Remember your training, Sasuke, even with the state that Great Clone Explosion is in, I think you could still allow yourself to use it. That jutsu will maximize the damage that is done."

"Okay," Sasuke nodded following him watching Itachi prepare, taking hold of his sai holster and his katana. Then it was the one item that Sasuke never thought that he would ever find a respected ninja take on a journey. "Itachi, is that alcohol?"

Itachi laughed nervously. "It has its purposes."

Sasuke sighed, allowing him to pack the bottle. "Where do we go?"

"Though the woods in the front of the village," Itachi explained. "Knowing how Kabuto works, he hasn't gotten very far at all. He's probably waiting for me to chase after him. He has no interest in Sakura," another flash of lightning filled the sky. "But we have to act quickly. I'll give you instructions on the way there."

"Understood," Sasuke answered with a nod, placing his dagger in its holster. "Your call, Itachi. When do we go?"

Itachi smirked proudly. "Been a long time since I was in a position of power," he started walking. "We go now," he looked back at Sasuke. "Tip number one: watch out for senbon, they're most likely filled with poison. Speed is vital in this mission so pay attention. They're going to split us up; you take Sakura, Kabuto's mine. I have score to settle with him."

Sasuke closed his eyes as he followed his brother into the rain closing his eyes tightly. _Sakura, why? Why did you have to go off with that bastard? _He ran faster to catch his brother's fast pace. Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as he followed Itachi into the darkness. _I will save you from Kabuto. If there is one thing that Itachi and Kakashi have taught me, it's that the darkness is a cold place. I'm going to save you from that cold._

"Sakura," he breathed as he followed Itachi closely. This was it, the moment that they were waiting for: the ultimate battle, the grand finale. Tt was the end of a long story of pain for Itachi. He was going to bring Sakura back.

-----

"Sakura Haruno has gone missing? Unfortunate as that sounds, I know that you long for him to come back to the village," the Hokage sighed. "But with the scare of Itachi Uchiha roaming through Konoha, I can't risk losing you all?"

"So?" Naruto asked, his hands pressed up against the desk. "There's nothing that we can do? What are you trying to say about us going on that mission? Are you saying that we're not strong enough?" he closed his blue eyes. "Sakura is missing, she's on my team, I can't sit back and do nothing."

"Naruto," Sarutobi started, looking out the window. "I've seen great men fall at that man's feet. I've seen Itachi spill my own blood. Enough ninja from Konoha have been injured by him, I will be damned if I send anymore for him to slaughter."

Ino shook her head. "So we can't go?"

He sighed. "I'm rejecting your request," he looked away from them back to the window. "Ino Yamanaka, I know that it hurts you to know that you couldn't stop her from leaving, but you have to think about what your sensei went through. Asuma is a gifted ninja; it was a shame to watch him go down. And Naruto, he took out your sensei as well, Kakashi was one of the best ninja of Konoha."

Ino shook her head. "But we could try…"

"I forbid it," the Hokage argued.

"But we don't even know if it was Itachi that she went off with. It didn't look like Itachi," she shook her head. "This man wasn't Itachi; he didn't hurt me enough to be Itachi. Sakura also would never go off with a ninja that dangerous."

Chouji placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's enough, Ino," he took a deep breath. "If Lord Hokage says that we're rejected, then so be it. We know that we can't defy his power."

"So what do we do?" Naruto asked looking back at Chouji.

"We wait," a voice said from the corner, the voice belonging to Shikamaru. "We wait until; Sakura has enough sense to come back. If it isn't Itachi we wait for Itachi to take this man out, even if we lose Sakura."

"That's not an option!" Naruto stated, his voice growing louder.

"Naruto," Chouji continued. "It's over…"

The blond boy growled as he started to walk away. "Whatever," he continued to walk out of the office, his feet gently hitting the ground one foot at a time. Sakura was the last person that he expected to cross over to the dark side. If it wasn't Itachi, who was it? His blue eyes looked at down the hall, the sound of clicking approaching, it sounded like a cane. Moving his eyes to see who it was he let out a gasp. "Kakashi-sensei?"

The jounin walked closer. "Oh, hello Naruto."

The young boy looked at the cane and then up at his sensei. "I'm glad that you're doing alright," he touched the cane gently feeling the cool hard surface. "Does it hurt to walk, Kakashi-sensei?"

The older ninja smirked under the mask as his eyes closed. "Not anymore, Naruto. You get used to the cane after a while. Besides, there's nothing really wrong with my leg," he took a step forward to follow the trail where to the Hokage's office. "I have to see the Hokage about what happened in the hospital."

Naruto closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "Kakashi-sensei, you know what happened to Sakura right?"

Kakashi bowed his head as he sighed. "I do."

"They won't let us go after him because we're too weak to go up against Itachi," Naruto answered watching as Team 10 walked toward him. "Did it work? Did the old man finally bend for reason?"

Shikamaru shook his head, his step applying less and less pressure, the sound of his feet hitting down to the ground becoming quieter. "No, he won't listen to us no matter how much we try," he moved his eyes to look at the jounin. "Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here? Should you be alone?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Gai's waiting for me outside," he took a deep breath. "If anyone knows when I'm in trouble it's him," he glanced down at the genin who was talking to him. "How are you doing, Shikamaru?"

"Alright," Shikamaru answered.

"Asuma wanted to know if you were doing alright, he's worried about you," Kakashi continued. "He thought that you would go off to do suicide missions if he left you alone for too long.

Chouji's eyes were brought to life by those words. "What are you talking about, we can take on Itachi."

Kakashi shook his head as he closed his eye. "No you can't, no one can. You see, the way to beat Itachi isn't by physical or psychological attacks. The only way to save him from the darkness that he's gotten himself in is if someone were to talk to him," his hand tightened around the cane. "The only person who can do that is Sasuke; he's the only one who can stop the evil from taking over completely. Not to mention it's against the law to touch Itachi."

Ino's voice rose to a dangerous volume. "We aren't going after Itachi; the man that I saw Sakura with wasn't Itachi. He was someone else, someone viler than Itachi could ever be. That man is going to kill Sakura!"

Kakashi sighed. "Then we'll have to wait to see how this turns out," he looked down the hall. _Itachi if there was ever a time where your service was needed, now is that time. The only person I know who isn't under the Hokage's law. Besides, this could be the Akatsuki coming to take back what's theirs._

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked looking at him. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head lightly. "Nothing, it's nothing," he continued hobbling down the hall. _Itachi, I'm counting on you to take them out, you promised that you would bring him back to me, and you don't go back on your word. After all, you're not like me._

-----

Rain continued to fall on the ground accenting the beating of his heart. _Kabuto, you bastard! _He only sped up the movements of his legs remembering all that he had put him through, the condescending tone of voice still in his mind rolling through the pain in slow motion. His lips were still pressed firmly up against his as they sat by the river bank, the jutsu not going his way.

It had all morphed into the day when he snuck into their house and he beat him, told him what he was going to do with Sasuke's body once he got the chance to bring him to his master. That's what Sakura was; she was nothing but a puppet that was used to bring Kabuto everything that he wanted. He bit his lip at the thought of their victory.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked almost breathlessly, trying desperately to catch up to him. "How much longer are we going to be chasing them before we get there?"

He looked over at his younger brother taking a deep breath. "We're going to continue on this path until we see them, then the fighting will begin once they make the first move at us. My style is to attack after the battle's begun; since this is their field they get the first hit."

"But Itachi," Sasuke breathed, meandering around trees as to not hurt himself. "If we allow them to attack first, how are we going to win this? You told me about the senbon, I was never good at dodging needles."

Itachi snickered. "Sasuke, we have the upper hand, we have something that they don't: the sharingan. Using our kekkei genkai we can not only predict their movements, but copy any techniques that the use as well," he glanced back at him. "I want you to keep that active the whole time; don't take it down for a second. The Uchiha clan is unmatched by any medical ninja. Just try to focus yourself, that dagger is deadlier than it looks, use it."

Sasuke almost came to a complete stop. "Itachi, I can't run anymore. If they're waiting for us, can't we take a break? I'm tired, I'm cold, it's raining, and my feet hurt," he fell to the ground. "Just a small break?"

Itachi stopped looked back at Sasuke, his face almost completely pallid. "You're still not feeling well are you?" he moved closer to him. "I guess one break isn't going to hurt. We can continue with our plan as he sit here and rest," a thunderclap filled their ears. "Besides, you wouldn't be very intimidating if you pissed your pants right in front of them. I know what thunderstorms do to you."

Sasuke shivered lightly as Itachi came closer. "I don't know if I can do all of this, Itachi. I don't know if I can go through thunderstorms and think about a mission. All I can think about right now is how much I want to go home and snuggle up in a warm dry bed, sleeping. This isn't my idea of a good time."

"Nor is it mine," Itachi stated. "But we're Sakura's only hope. Do you think that old geezer Sarutobi is going to let anyone else chase after her?"

"No," Sasuke answered moving closer to Itachi's damp flesh feeling his arms wrap around him again. "If anything happens I want you to know that I love you, Itachi," he kissed him lightly on the neck. "If I die…"

Itachi shook his head. "I won't let them kill you, Sasuke. They can take my life if they want it; they can all that I have to give. I would rather beg that organization to take me back before I let you die," he stroked Sasuke's cheek. "You won't die on me," he kissed him lightly on the lips. "You wouldn't have the nerve."

Sasuke brushed the moist strands of hair from Itachi's face. "Always have to think ahead," he breathed moving closer to him. "Sakura will stop at nothing to destroy me once she finds that I'm involved with you. I'm somewhat scared about all of this. What if I only get in the way?"

"Then I'll save you," Itachi breathed. "I promised that I would never let anything bad happen to you. I'll be cursed for life if I allow you to die at their hands," he looked into Sasuke's dark eyes. "Rested enough?"

The young ninja nodded. "I think I can make it now."

-----

Naruto hung up the phone as he moved back to the Hokage's office. He had tried to call Sasuke. Every single time his best friend refused to pick up the phone; it was like he had something more important to do at the moment. How was that true? Sasuke went home last night; there was no way that he was able to get himself in that much trouble in less than a year. Contrary to what Naruto was trying to tell himself, he still felt the fear of losing his teammates forever. First Sakura disappears, now Sasuke?

"Any luck?" Shikamaru asked in the doorway of the Hokage's office. "Could you reach Sasuke?"

Naruto shook his head. "No," he walked into the entrance of the building dripping dramatically as he looked into Shikamaru's eyes. "Sasuke's gone too. I don't know what's going on. It's not like him to run off alone like that," he gasped. "You don't think that he went after Sakura do you?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Doesn't sound like something Sasuke wouldn't do. He always has to act so cool, he's too good to save her," he handed the blond a dry towel. "Here you go, Naruto. I don't want you to catch a cold."

"Thanks," he answered as he took the towel from him. "I'm worried about them. I was always worried about Sasuke since that night. His eyes never looked the same. He always seemed so distant, so bent on destroying everything that he once held so dear to his heart. He seemed to be consumed by the darkness."

Shikamaru sighed. "Man, your team is a pain in the ass, all of this about darkness taking over people's souls. I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with Ino and Chouji going into the darkness. You got the two messed up kids, Naruto."

"They aren't messed up," the blond stated as he wiped his face with the towel, drying it off completely. "They're being coerced, and if all I can do is stand here, then nothing will be able to save them from that fate."

Shikamaru sighed. "They'll be alright, you just come with me and we can sit outside the Hokage's office until we have different orders," he took Naruto's hand. "I know that you're in pain, but there's nothing we can do."

Naruto closed his eyes, a tear running down his cheek. "But it hurts so much when you lose someone the way that I did. If there was anyway I could give my life for them, I would. I would follow them to the edge of the earth just to allow them the pleasure of drawing another breath," he shook his head. "But sitting here and watching as they throw their lives away, that's torturous. It's worse than dying."

Shikamaru sighed as he started to walk. "I'll sit with you if you want me to. Ino and Chouji are waiting for you to come back. They're worried for you, Naruto, all of these events are happening way to fast for you to adjust to."

He followed Shikamaru back inside as he looked out into the rain. _Sasuke, if you had killed me that night, if I had allowed myself to die, would all of this suffering be over? When I die will you feel anymore of this pain? I should have died. _He sped up as he held on tighter to Shikamaru's hand. _And I will, if it means you and Sakura will be safe. I would die a thousand times for that gift._

-----

Sakura looked back at the trail that they had left behind, she could sense the danger coming she could feel it in her veins. Kabuto had put all that they had on the table, but with a roll of the dice they could lose it all. She could lose the freedom that she always longed for. Itachi was going to take it away.

Itachi, once she thought that he was still a victim of Sasuke's hate, but there was no hate between the brothers. There was nothing but a sinful love that would be their downfall. Ever since that night when they met up again, the emotions that Sasuke was harboring had come to life, their once innocent love turning sexual. All she wanted was some attention from him.

"Kabuto?" she asked looking up at him. "Do you hear that?"

The older medical ninja looked back at her. "What the hell are you talking about?" he closed his eyes as he heard something coming this way, something going through the air, a chill. "Sakura, go check what it is, but be careful."

She nodded, starting to walk away another feeling going through her, this time it was the sound of a projectile. Observing the mass of the object of how it cut through the air she immediately eliminated all thoughts of it being anything close to a shuriken, it sounded heavier, like a kunai.

"Kabuto! Look out!" she screamed jumping in front of him, feeling a sharp pain skid against her shoulder. "He's here," she breathed clutching her bleeding skin looking back into the darkness of the night two shadows appearing before them.

One stepped closer. "Finally found you, Kabuto," the red irises of both figures' eyes gleamed in the lightning. "This time you aren't going to get off that easily," he stepped closer still revealing his identity.

"Itachi Uchiha," Kabuto boasted. "I thought you were going to come for us. You were a little slower than I had hoped. Did you read my message written in blood?"

"Shut up," the other figure stated walking closer to Itachi. "We're going to take both of you down right here, right now."

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she spat his name. "Sasuke Uchiha," she took two steps forward. "I thought you were above going with this scum," she looked at Itachi. "I thought I could trust you."

Sasuke took a step forward, the scarlet pigment to his eyes causing chills to run down Sakura's spine. "Sakura, if you want to go with that bastard behind you, I want you to understand that we can no longer be the allies that you thought we could be. All of what we did on Team 7 means nothing," his eyes narrowed. "Itachi has shown me what the world is really like. If I want to get anywhere I have to overcome my fears and embrace them, let them into my life."

Sakura shook her head as she looked back at Kabuto. "Do we destroy them?" she smiled broadly pulling out her own kunai.

"Try," Sasuke taunted, pulling out Shisui's dagger looking into jade eyes. "You forget that I've been training under Itachi for a while now. I know how to destroy someone; I know a lot of his power tips. You however, are the easiest one to beat on the whole team. You're worse than Naruto."

She spat at him. "Insolent dick!"

Itachi looked at the two young ninja, their eyes glaring evilly at each other, a sadistic grin coming to his lips. "If you don't bring her back in one piece, I'll understand, Sasuke. She's a missing girl anyway; it's most likely that she'll never come home. If she wants to go off to the Sound Village with Orochimaru, then rip her to shreds."

Kabuto scoffed. "Well, well, looks like the Uchiha weaklings are finally here to take us on," he licked his lips. "I can finally get my struggle, Itachi; I can finally watch you in the most pain that you've ever been in your whole life. I'll finally get that ring."

"Please," Itachi scoffed as he looked at the medical ninja. "You won't touch me with those hands of yours."

The thunder sounded through the sky as the battle was about to start. Everything was riding on either side's triumph, everything that they had, they anteed up. Their lives, their name's, their bodies, everything was fair game for the other side to take. A flash of lightning filled the atmosphere as Itachi laughed wickedly.

"It begins…"

* * *

**Author's Note:** The fight is going to begin in the next chapter, mind you I'm not that good at actions so it's not going to be that well written. I also know that you're all dying to get Kabuto ans Sakura's asses kicked, I don't know how the fight is going to turn out yet. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Want this fight to be over with? Honesty is my policy. 


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Warnings: **This chapter is shorter than the last two, but still long. This chapter contains incest, yaoi, blood/violence, crude language, some sexuality, homicidal thoughts, references to rape, skewed thoughts on rape, OOC, and as for the canon... you know...

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, some SasuSaku and ItaSaku, slight ItaKabu and KabuSaku, hints of NaruSaku and SasuNaru

* * *

Sakura's eyes lit up as she looked at Sasuke, he was closer to her than she thought he would be. All of the cold emotions that she made him known for were not in his eyes as he gazed upon her. She could only pinpoint pain as he took a step closer. He was feeling remorse for what he was about to do. It didn't have to end like this. 

"Sasuke," she breathed, watching his hand grasp his dagger. "You don't have to do what Itachi says, he's using you to kill Naruto," she tightened her grip on her kunai. "I don't know what he's been telling you, but he's has no interest in you. He wants to use you to obtain power for that group of his."

He pulled the dagger out pointing it straight at her. "I didn't come here for you to talk me out of this, Sakura. I chose my path, there's no turning back from the destiny that I've chosen," he glanced at Itachi. "I don't have to do anything that you say anymore, Sakura. I'm no longer on your side."

She shook her head. "Just because you're with him doesn't mean that I can't save you. I will rip you apart before I let you go anywhere with that man," she closed her eyes. "Think of all he did to you, he killed your whole clan without showing any remorse. I'm not going to let that slide over as nicely as you want me to."

He took a step forward, the rain still hitting the ground violently. "Then don't do anything, you were always good at that before. Out of all the times to be a pain in my ass you picked the worst," he held onto his weapon tighter, his sharingan eyes narrowing. "Sakura, this will be the end for you if you don't get away from that bastard."

Kabuto laughed as he looked at Sasuke. "You're already starting to sound like your brother, Sasuke," he looked up at Itachi. "But tell me, are you going to weep like a woman while your best friend dies at your hand? Are you going to attempt to kill yourself with that dagger and take the easy way out?"

Itachi stood idle, resting up against a tree, his eyes fixated on Sakura. All of the words that Kabuto said had no effect on him. He was confident that he was going to win this battle. He knew no matter how hard Sakura and Kabuto tried they were never going to amount to anything. They were the underdogs.

Sasuke scoffed. "Sakura, this is between you and me, I don't want to see Kabuto helping you out or I will have to send Itachi in to finish you both off," he snickered as he walked closer still. "What do you have to say to that, Sakura?"

"You're a bastard," Sakura growled extending her kunai.

"Yeah," Sasuke huffed. "Maybe I am, but I'm a bastard that you wanted to love you. You wanted me to be the one who went off with you. We're you the only one in that hospital who didn't pick up the hints, when I walked down the streets didn't notice the marks on my body, the smell of jasmine? Were you the only one who didn't know that night when he _raped_ me I actually subconsciously wanted it?"

Sakura closed her eyes. "If that's true, Sasuke, then you're just like him. You monster, what about what he did to your clan? Are you going to forgive him for that? How can you love someone who did nothing more than kill everyone that you loved."

Sasuke chuckled. "He doesn't want forgiveness; he always wants me to hate him for what he did. I don't forgive him for that, as much as I'd like to put that behind us I never will be able to. I blame him for my pain."

"Then why do you love him?" Sakura asked reaching into her pouch the sound of weapons rustling. "If he treats you so badly, then why do you bother with him? Why do you go to him for comfort? What is the point of this pain that you're causing yourself?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Why were you trying to get so close to me? Unlike your feelings for me, my feelings for Itachi started a while back. That night that he took everything from me, he broke my heart, he took all of the faith that I wanted to put in him and threw it all away," he narrowed his eyes in anger. "He's a part of me; he's the reason why I live. Isn't that what love is, the person that you can't live without, the person where if they ever died they would end your life forever?"

Sakura pulled her hand out of her pouch, hiding her hand behind her back. "Now I see it, I see that you no longer care about anything. You aren't the Sasuke that I know. That monster behind you has been playing you like a sap. He won't stop tormenting you until you give him everything."

The younger Uchiha looked back at Itachi. "Now?"

Itachi nodded. "Do as you wish, have fun. Just remember," his voice rose in a crescendo of bloodthirsty sadism, his eyes lighting up with a fire that Sasuke had never seen before. "Kabuto is mine."

Sasuke smirked as the rain was easing up on them, the last few drops stating to fall. _It's dry enough to use that jutsu now; _he took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu," he exhaled sharply, a raging fire rolling toward Sakura. He could hear the chuckling form the sideline as Kabuto allowed a smile to roll across his face. He had done something wrong.

"You think that's going to work, Itachi?" the older Sound ninja stated as he looked over at Itachi. "You don't know that I also taught Sakura some techniques," he turned to her as the fire disappeared, she had dodged the attack. "Sakura, now!"

She complied instantly her hand moving quickly. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw them coming, the senbon that his brother was talking about. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't dodge it, the sound of Itachi's voice in his ears as he felt arms wrap around him, his body becoming limp.

"I've got you," he whispered as they quickly moved out of the way of the needles bringing him to the safety of where they had entered the scene. "Sasuke, are you alright?"

Sasuke nodded shakily. "I think so…" he closed his eyes as Itachi kissed his forehead lightly. "Itachi, this situation has gotten tougher than I wanted it to," he looked over at Sakura. "There's no stopping her."

"Yes," Itachi answered. "There is," he stood up, his scarlet eyes looking straight at the young girl as he started to form visible seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," the flames rolled toward her as she dodged it, in the heat of it all he pulled out one of the senbon from the tree that it was embedding upon. "Dodge this," he threw it with pristine care, hitting her in the left kneecap.

She let out a squeal. "Itachi, I thought that you were different," she looked up at him. "I showed no anger toward you before the second that I found out it was all a lie. I healed you," she watched as he walked closer pulling out a kunai. "I healed you when no one else would."

"And I thank you for that," Itachi smirked evilly. "If it wasn't for you I would have never learned the basis of Mystical Palms. Thanks to you Sakura, I have control over more of the elements of ninja art; you helped me with one of the missing links."

She shook her head trying to move her leg feeling the poison starting to take effect; she could feel her muscles starting to stiffen from the venom. Her breath became labored as Itachi walked closer to her, a grin still on his face. Desperately, she continued to attempt to move, her foot staying in place.

"Sakura," Itachi breathed as he ran a hand across her cheek. "Why is a girl like you always around such horrible people?" he moved to her chin, his eyes filled with a condescending anger. "Why are you always right there to be their slaves?" he pulled her to the tips of her toes taking hold of her chin. "Sakura, I thought you had all of the potential in the world. Now I know that you don't comprehend what potential is," he chuckled lightly moving so close to her, his breath condensing on her skin, the flesh becoming sticky with the traces of saliva. "It's depressing."

"Get off of me," Sakura cursed, her voice full of disgust. "You sick fuck!"

"That mouth of yours is getting dirtier every time that we meet," he breathed moving to her lips, the warmth swirling against hers. "You kissed my brother with this mouth of yours?" he moved closer still to whisper in her ear. "Now you've inherited his vocabulary."

Sasuke chuckled as he watched the sight. "I was waiting for the time when you'd be flirting with other people," he looked at Itachi's lips so close to Sakura's. "You were being too well behaved."

Itachi beamed arrogantly. "After I'm done with her, Sasuke, there won't be any left for you to take back to Konoha," he pressed his lips against hers lightly. "Such a sweet little girl."

"You sick rapist," Sakura scoffed as she looked into his eyes. "What are your intentions with me?"

"I'm going to get you away from Kabuto no matter what I have to do to make that happen," he pulled her higher off of the ground. "Let's see how well you avoid me with one of your legs out of commission."

He threw her out of his hand smiling as he heard the thud up against the hard surface of a tree, his eyes moving to look over at Kabuto, his fingers taking out a kunai. "You're the next one to go down," he moved toward where Sakura was pressed up against a tree holding the kunai tightly. "Sakura, come on, fight me!" he pushed his hand up against her neck pushing her back into the tree. "Do something."

She looked into his eyes. "You're not going to get in the way of our freedom. One day I'll come back for Naruto and then Lord Orochimaru can save us," she tried to move out of his grip. "You and Sasuke won't stand in my way."

"That's where you're wrong," Itachi huffed, his eyes going back to Sasuke. "If we get out of here alive and I feel as though you learned something, the bet from before is still on. However if you learned nothing from this experience and you disgrace me being related to you then I will do nothing."

Sasuke smirked. "I won't disgrace you," he looked at Sakura who was struggling to break free. "Now you're going to see the person who beat Kakashi Hatake in action. Unfortunately for you, you're on the wrong side of this battle. Get away from Kabuto and this can all be resolved."

"Sasuke," she spat. "Just because Itachi tells you that something is right, it doesn't mean that's true. I'm going to show you that. I'm going to show you that this monster that you call your lover is only using you."

Sasuke rose to his feet shakily. "Itachi, get out of the way, this is now between me and Sakura. You go do what you wish to Kabuto. I won't hold anything against you if you kill him."

The older brother backed away. "That's so generous of you, Sasuke, but don't worry about me," he extended his hand for Sasuke as the young boy came closer to him. "Remember Sasuke, I'm not going to let them kill you. If worst comes to worst I'll have to stop your fight and use the mangekyou sharingan to break it up. I pray that I won't need to use that," he pulled Sasuke closer as he grasped the dagger that was in the young boy's hand. "Don't forget Shisui's dagger, it won't fail you, it's a strong weapon, use it well, Sasuke; I leave this up to you."

"Understood," Sasuke answered as Itachi turned away from him walking to Kabuto's side. "It's just you and me now, Sakura. There's no one who can save you, the second that Kabuto steps in so does Itachi, I don't care how strong you think he is, he will fall at Itachi's hand," he pulled out the dagger as he smirked wider. "We'll see who gets Naruto on their side. We'll see which one of us will win."

Kabuto glanced over at Itachi with a smug grin on his face. _I don't care how well he's trained this boy; Sakura's hate is stronger than he is. I'm sorry; Itachi, but I've won this round. You've lost for sure._

-----

Naruto clasped his hands together as he closed his eyes, leaning to rest his elbows up against his knees. He had a bad feeling about all that was occurring in his team. He looked through his peripheral vision to look at his sensei who was sitting beside him, glancing in his direction.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asked as he sighed.

Naruto's blue eyes widened as he awoke from his trance. "Oh, yeah, I'm okay," he placed a fake smile on his lips.

He looked down at the ground thinking about what all this was about. It was about the monster that was inside of him. Inside him was the spirit that Itachi Uchiha wanted, the reason why he was here in the first place. He was the reason why Itachi was able to come back and take Kakashi out.

"Sensei?" Naruto asked as he looked over at Kakashi. "You said that there were certain people who could reach Itachi, people who could stop him from destroying everything. Are you one of those people?"

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, Itachi resents me. I was never able to reach to him, not even when he was a troubled youth. I knew him before he was like this. I knew him when he was a young boy, nothing more than a simple child. He always was so distant from everyone, he didn't trust anyone. He started to lash out at people after a while, and that's when the hate started."

"What did you do to him?" Naruto asked.

"I gave up on him," Kakashi stated as he looked at the young ninja. "Itachi never wanted anyone to give up on him. He always wanted something more, his soul always hungry. Now he's still hungry, feeding on every powerful thing. He's destroying to prove something greater."

"Is that why he hurt Sasuke?" Naruto asked clinging onto his stomach.

Kakashi closed his eye. "There's a lot about Itachi that even I can't answer your questions about. All I know is that he is lost in the darkness, his mind going through a cycle of unbelievable pain. He will never leave this village alone until he gets what he wants."

Naruto sighed. "Me," he took another deep breath. "Will the torment never end? If I allow myself to be at his mercy is there any way that I can end all of the pain before it gets too great?"

Kakashi looked down the hall toward the Hokage's office. "Naruto, there are sometimes in a ninja's life where they are faced with loss. It hurts, it hurts worse than all of the wounds that you've ever experienced put together. When hit with loss, where someone close to you is taken away, there seems like there is nothing that can save you from that horrible fate. But you move on, you find out that maybe the loss was worth it, and the one that you held so dear is finally at peace."

Naruto sighed. "I hope you right, Kakashi, for everyone's sake," he looked down the hall closing his eyes tightly. _This is my fault…_

-----

Sasuke dodged out of the way of another senbon, fearing the poison that was deep within the needle. He could see what it was doing to Sakura's leg; it was starting to destroy it slowly, the color disappearing with every movement that she struggled to do. Itachi had already started to slow her down for him, now all he had to do was finish the job and drag her back to Konoha.

Senbon after senbon, kick after kick, punch after punch, all of it proved to be nothing more than futile attempts to knock him down. With the sharingan in his eyes he could see everything, he could see the movements before they happened, especially now in her slower state. It was a pleasure to beat her down.

"Have you had enough yet, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, walking toward her his eyes narrowing in anger. "Have you finally opened your eyes to what life is really like? Have you realized that Itachi won't hurt you if you go back to Konoha?"

She shook her head slowly rising off of the ground. "No," she took a deep breath. "Sasuke, you're the one who has the wrong view on this. Itachi is the one who is going to destroy everyone; he's the one who wants to use your power to destroy Naruto. I know about the Akatsuki."

Sasuke pulled his dagger out pointing it down at her. "You have no idea what the Akatsuki is," he moved down to look into her watering eyes. "Sakura, forget the life of being in Kabuto's side and realize that the person that you truly want is me," he stroked her face lightly. "Sakura, I still have feelings of remorse for hurting you, Itachi knows that. He wished that it wouldn't have to come down to this."

"He briefed you well," she rolled her eyes.

Sasuke snickered. "Sakura, this man that you're with is only going to take Naruto's life. The Sound Village is a horrible place; it doesn't know of the word peace, it doesn't know of the word freedom. You go off with Kabuto and not even God will know what happens to you."

Sakura shook her head. "Sasuke, please, this is the last time I'm going to ask you, get rid of Itachi and come off with Kabuto and me."

Itachi laughed from the side. "You think it's that easy?" he looked over at Kabuto. "You've got yourself a dumb girl on your side, Kabuto. You didn't even need to make promises that deeply. She automatically believed you," his ruby eyes narrowed. "How did you pull it off?"

Kabuto laughed gently as he looked over at the younger ninja. "How did you pull off getting Sasuke on your side? Unlike you though I didn't mistreat her, put her in a hospital countless times, almost kill her numerous times, mentally cripple her sensei, and make death threats on her teammates," he snickered. "Shisui would be proud of all that you've done. That boy's a lot like him."

Itachi turned to him biting his lower lip harshly. "Watch what you say."

"Shisui the Mirage, he was a great ninja wasn't he?" Kabuto looked over at Itachi. "If only he lived that night, the Akatsuki would have been proud to have him. Instead they got his incompetent weak cousin," a smirk came to his lips. "If only you were the one who drowned that night."

Itachi scoffed. "The stronger ninja always survives, weak ninja are always going to fall first," he glared at the medical ninja, his eyes narrowing as he curled his hand into a fist. "Just like Sasuke is going to destroy that kunoichi that you picked up, just as I'm going to destroy you, there's no way that you'll win."

The younger ninja's fist moved to meet the flesh of Kabuto's face knocking the glasses off, watching them fall to the ground. He had robbed him of clear vision as he reached into his pouch pulling out the small bottle of liquor.

"I'd say this is going well," he uncapped the bottle pouring a mouthful of liquid into his mouth swallowing it in one gulp. "This is the end for you, Kabuto."

Kabuto looked up at him. "You can take the ninja out of the ANBU, but you can't take the ANBU out of the ninja," he scoffed as he narrowed his eyes. "Still drinking I see. When are you going to drop that habit?"

"Kabuto, you idiot, you don't realize what I'm going to do to you?" he started making hand signs. "We'll see who screams last," he took a deep breath. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."

The flames from the technique burnt even hotter than the usual fireball, the blaze mixing with the alcohol that was in his mouth, transforming the technique into a blazing inferno. A smirk can across his lips as he watched the med-nin jump out of the way of the attack, right where he wanted him.

"I've got you now!" Itachi breathed pulling out a kunai throwing it straight at him watching his dark eyes widen in shock.

_He's trying to get Sakura by herself; he's continuing to distract me so that no harm will come to Sasuke. He's worried about him, there's no question about that now. _He moved out of the way of the kunai. "Enough games, Itachi," he pulled out a senbon. "This is the time for you to go down."

"How many times do I have to tell you, Kabuto," Itachi breathed his voice almost monotonous. "There's no way that you can beat me. Not with those senbon that you love so much," he smirked. "Use a technique. Come on. give me something to copy."

Kabuto started making hand signs. "Let's see how well you do when your body starts to give out on you."

Itachi started making the same signs. "I have the basis for Mystical Palms, attacking my body with that technique is only going to embarrass you. So why don't you give up right now?"

Kabuto ran toward him chakra concentrated in his hand. "Take this!"

"Come on, Kabuto, you can do better than that," he threw his hand forward to Kabuto's chest hearing him gag as the muscles were starting to be destroyed. "You think you can beat me like this? You say that you're comparable to Kakashi Hatake, but in reality he put up a better fight, he didn't let me do this."

He grabbed Kabuto's hair twisting him to fall to the ground. "Itachi!" his scalp was burning as he tried to break free from his grip, feeling his grey hairs getting caught in the ring that he desired so deeply. "Let go of me before you regret it."

"I don't regret," Itachi hissed as he pulled out a kunai, kneeling down behind him. "I wonder what Orochimaru would say if you never came back to him? Would he even care? I think I'm doing you a favor. Otherwise you're going to come back empty handed, and he'll hate you. He might even kill you."

"If I die here, it's alright. My body has already fulfilled its purpose to his dream," he looked back at Itachi. "Even if you don't die, I would have slowed you down a little. One by one the Akatsuki will come after you, Orochimaru will send them after you."

Itachi pulled against the ponytail hearing Kabuto gasp out in pain. "The Akatsuki will turn on you the second that the fox dies before they obtain the power on the spirit. That spirit will _not_ get into their hands and my brother will _not_ be a container!"

Sasuke looked over at them. _Container?_

"Well, you really don't have a choice do you?" Kabuto asked with a smirk on his face feeling the kunai draw closer. "They will come after you no matter how hard you try to defeat them," he slowly moved his hand from the ground. "And they will kill you."

Kabuto's hand grabbed Itachi's ankle sending his chakra through the muscle hearing Itachi let out a muffled cry, he laughed as he felt the kunai leave the side of his neck, the hand on his ponytail becoming tighter as he fell to the ground. The force pulled him back to rest on top of Itachi's body.

"I got your ankle," Kabuto smirked as he looked back at Itachi, seeing the anger in his red eyes. "Oh don't look so angry at me, Itachi," his hand ran along the rain soaked flesh of the younger ninja's cheek. "You can still beat Sakura, no matter how pathetic that you are. Maybe that young boy over there is stronger than you think."

Itachi smirked evilly. "Don't underestimate me," he took a deep breath as he pulled Kabuto's ponytail more moving the kunai to the end. "This ponytail is your downfall, let's get rid of it…"

Sakura looked over at the two who were on the ground. "Kabuto!"

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked as he took a few steps forward. "What are you doing? Quit playing with him and kill him already. The second that he dies is the second that we can bring Sakura back!"

"Quiet, Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he pushed Kabuto away slamming him into a tree, watching the trail of blood being left from the hit, the bark a sickening red. "Stop holding back on Sakura. I'm going to distract Kabuto," he struggled to his feet, his ankle moving painfully as he limped toward the bleeding ninja.

_Itachi's hurt, _Sasuke breathed as he looked over at Sakura. "Is this your idea of a game, Sakura? Is this how you're going to repay me after all that we've been through."

"What do you care about Team 7?" Sakura asked as she looked at her teammate. "You went off with an Akatsuki insurgent. I went of with the antibody, the one true power that is going to stop Itachi."

"Sakura," he started as he took a few steps toward her. "I have no problem killing you. I told you and Naruto this once: nothing is going to get in my way. No one is going to hurt Itachi, if I cannot kill him, then what makes you think I'll let anyone else do it. He's my goal, I wanted to be the one to kill him, but it only ended in me losing myself. He helped me out of the absolute darkness. Even if I will never be in the light again, he's shown me that there is a way out."

"Isn't that poetic?" Sakura asked as she pulled out a kunai. "You think that all of what he says is the truth? You think he loves you? You think that no matter what happens you're going to bring me back? I'm not going to go back; Kabuto has shown a way for me never to worry about that again."

Sasuke pulled out Shisui's dagger. "Play times over, if you won't listen to reason, then I'll drag you away from Kabuto," he walked toward her pointing the blade in her direction. "Let's see how well you dodge this when you can't even move your leg. That poison was a bad idea," he stood right in front of her looking at the music note on her forehead protector. "Pledged your allegiance to Sound?"

"Just as you did to the Akatsuki," she breathed feeling his hands go through her hair pulling at it gently. "Sasuke, please, listen to reason and come with us. We can come back for Naruto; we can save him from his dark fate."

Sasuke scoffed moving his dagger to Sakura's neck. "It's too late for all of that; it's too late for you to save him. He's going to die no matter which side he's on, there's no hope for him anymore. However, you don't have to die right here if you cooperate."

"Go to Hell," Sakura spat looking at the dagger.

"Maybe later, as of now, you're going to go first," he moved the dagger back pushing it forward to hit her in the back of the head. "Die, Sakura…"

Everything stopped as a pressure wrapped around his wrist, pulling him back from Sakura, the other arm wrapping around his waist dragging him back a few inches. A growl of disproval came from his throat as he opened his eyes seeing Kabuto kneeling behind Sakura facing Sasuke, his eyes free from the glasses burning passionately. Sasuke's eyes ventured to the arm around his waist seeing the fingernails that were still perfectly painted a light violet.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked trying to break free. "What are you doing?"

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed pulling him away. "Try to control yourself. Try to focus, you're about to fall into a trap. She's going to poison you with that kunai. Do you want to destroy everything that you worked so hard for and kill yourself?"

"It would be worth it," Sasuke snapped breaking free from Itachi's hold on him. "If she isn't going to cooperate then I don't see the point in keeping her alive."

"Killing without reason is not the way that we operate. You were going to throw your life away you idiot," he slapped Sasuke across the face, the dagger falling from his hand landing right in front of Sakura.

Kabuto smirked. "Still living by your weak creed? That's why they kicked you out you know, because you're nothing more than a weakling, someone who doesn't kill on command. You believe in divine command. Unless something tells you inside your body that ending a life is the only way to save your own ass, you let them go. Pathetic, Itachi. You're so weak."

Itachi looked down at the medical ninja. "And you're not weak?" he walked a little closer limping on his right foot, his eyes narrowing in anger. "You're going to regret that, Kabuto."

"Are you going to use genjutsu?" he asked looking up at Itachi.

The younger ninja shook his head. "There are other techniques these eyes can do as well. There's a ninjutsu technique, a technique that I rarely use, the effects of it will probably cause me to be out of commission for the rest of the fight. That doesn't matter though, this technique is fatal."

"Amaterasu?" Kabuto asked his eyes widening. "I should have known you would use that technique," he closed his eyes tightly. "You think that killing me is going to make the problems with the Akatsuki go away? I'm the first of a long line of pain."

Itachi laughed sarcastically. "You caused so much pain, Kabuto."

Sakura looked at her companion who was on the ground looking straight at the dagger that was on the ground. _Kabuto, I know he's your fight, but I told you once, that I would have to kill him, _she grasped the handle tightly looking up at the two older ninjas, watching as Kabuto started to back away from Itachi. Her heart raced clutching the dagger tightly as she stood up, her knee buckling as she tried to move away from the spot that she was sitting down upon.

"Don't touch him Itachi!" Sakura cried out as she moved toward him, her green eyes burning violently, throwing two senbon at Itachi's leg. Every step ran down both Kabuto and Itachi's spines as she ran closer still the dagger pointed straight at Itachi.

"Sakura!" Kabuto warned, holding his hand out to try and stop her. "Stop!"

She continued to run as she closed her eyes thinking about all of the wrongs that Sasuke and Itachi had caused her, there was nothing that was going to stop her now. Through the smiles that they had given her she couldn't see the trust. She could only see that it was nothing but a grand lie, something to silence her while they continued their plot to destroy Naruto.

"_I don't care about what happens to me. Whatever happens happens for a reason, there's no avoiding it once it occurred."_

She ran faster. _Itachi…_

"_I have no regrets for what I do. Regret is showing an attachment, attachment is a way to compensate a flaw."_

Her hand tightened around the dagger as she blocked out the pleas coming from Kabuto sitting bruised on the ground, his hair disheveled, pulled out of the tie of his ponytail. "Sakura!"

_No matter what, I'll, _she ran faster still looking into his eyes watching as he froze, his body not moving as he watched her draw closer, his eyes fixated on the dagger.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled from the side his voice almost breaking, he was near tears. "Don't kill him! Please!"

"_You're very pretty, you shouldn't be in a thankless job such as this; you could amount to so much more than being on the same team as Kakashi Hatake. You're worth so much more…"_

"I will kill you!" she screamed, lunging the dagger forward, hitting flesh, blood spilling onto her hand as she pushed deeper, her eyes closed tightly. She could hear gagging as Kabuto protested, his voice a low growl. All she could hear was Itachi gasp in shock, Kabuto's voice rising into a scream.

"No!"

-----

Naruto opened his eyes in shock as he felt his heart beat faster in his chest, his stomach rumbling violently. He gulped to keep the vomit that was burning in his throat from filling his mouth. Something was wrong. Something had happened out there. He stood from his chair trying to block out the yelling between the Hokage and Kakashi.

_Kakashi-sensei is worried about Sasuke; _he looked at the door closing his eyes clutching his stomach. There was something wrong with all of this, he never had a feeling like this not since the Land of Waves when he thought that he had lost Sasuke.

It had happened again, he was the one who was left behind while the other two kept on moving. Sakura and Sasuke had both progressed as ninja, both of them truly showing that they were at the top of their class. He was the one who was on the side, there for laughs, there only to lighten the mood. He was weak, he wasn't even able to go out there and retrieve them. He had no power to be proud of.

_I wanted to be Hokage? There's no way that can happen anymore. I have to accept it, _he moved toward the window closing his eyes a tear rolling down his cheek. "I'm weak," he curled his hand, fisting the fabric of his shirt. "Damn it," through half opened eyes, all he could see was the blur of tears he could see the sun start to come out through the clouds.

"Sasuke, please," he closed his eyes tightly. "Please don't die on me. You made a promise to me as I made a promise to you. I said that I would stay out of the way with you and Itachi," he took a deep breath. "Please Sasuke, please."

"_Don't die… promise me that you're going to come out of this all alive. If you think about dying before I do… if you even think about it, I'll… I'll hate you more than I already do."_

Naruto closed his eyes tighter as he felt the rays of sun run through his eyes nearly blinding him. "Sasuke…" he could feel his legs start to give out on him. "Please, don't die on me."

Footsteps came up behind him as he fell to the ground his eyes watering even more. "Naruto?" a voice asked. "Are you alright?"

He looked back to see the three genin who were going to go into the woods with him. "Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, don't you guys have parents to go home to?" he looked down at the ground. "In case you guys weren't aware, we got _rejected_."

"We know," Ino answered.

Naruto placed a hand on the ground. "You don't have to see me like this, no matter how much you guys enjoy making fun of me," he wiped a tear from his eyes. "You're going to be teasing me about this forever, aren't you?"

"No," Ino continued, walking toward him. "I was wondering if I could sit next to you and cry as well," she heard him gasp. "My best friend is out there too and even if she is in the darkness and I can't save her, I know that she'll come back. I mean she has to, everything she knows is here. _You're_ here."

"I don't think Sakura cares about anything," Naruto answered as he looked at the ground. "And as for Sasuke, all he cares about is that asshole brother of his. All he probably wants is to go after him and kill him while he still has the chance."

"Sasuke's always selfish like that," Chouji scoffed. "It makes me sick to be around him. He's always trying to act like he's better than everyone else."

Shikamaru huffed. "He's human, guys, even if he is a pain in the ass, he's still human. He has emotions and he feels as though everything that happened is all because of him. He might hand himself over to Itachi if that's the case."

Naruto looked at the ground pressing his fist against the hard floor. "I hate him! I hate him for everything that he's done; he's making me worry for his life. I don't know what I can do with him. Every time I see him, he's acting like a new person. It's not fair that I'm losing him like this," he closed his eyes starting to sob louder. "It's not fair!"

Ino placed a hand on his back feeling his body move forward. "Shikamaru, he's thinking about it again, he's thinking about hurting himself," she could hear him breathing heavily. "I'm taking him out of here."

Chouji nodded. "I'll help you; we can all take him back to his place."

"Sasuke will probably call as soon as he gets back," Shikamaru continued. "All we have to do is sit with him by the phone and wait. Naruto doesn't want to be alone at times like this."

Naruto felt as Team 10 picked him off of the floor, pulling him toward the door. He looked out at the clouds started to roll across the sky, the ivory masses blocking out the bright rays of the sun. Through the darkness that once clouded the Konoha sky, the light had shone through. It was a new day, a new beginning. This chapter of his saga, Naruto was hit with unbelievable sadness, all of those who were so close to him taken away so harshly. How could he continue to live like this?

He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, falling almost limp up against Shikamaru's shoulder, his tears soaking into the fabric of the other genin's shirt. This was going to take some time to sink in. It was going to take some time to continue to live. He didn't deserve that luxury, not if Sasuke and Sakura never came back.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So I kind of left on a bed note in the fight scene, but I wanted to keep some mystery to it (the n ext chapter won't leave you off like this). I can't guarentee if Itachi's going to survive Sakura's wrath (seeing as the dagger did hit something). So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think Sakura needs to get her ass back to Konoha and stay out of this affair. Honesty is my policy. 


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own anything

**Warnings: **This chapter is longer than the last one. It also contains coarse language, blood/violence, themes including death, talk of homicide, OOC, and the canon... well. This is also a continuation of the last chapter the violence being in the beginning and it all goes downhill from there, this chapter is way to overdramatic (hence the OOC).

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight SasuSaku, references to ShisIta, some ItaKabu and KabuSaku

* * *

Blood dripped to the ground, Sakura's eyes were still closed as she heard Itachi's breathing speed up, the quiet chuckles coming from Kabuto's lips filling her ears gently as he felt a hand wrap around her wrist. The warmth of the hands made her body shake in shock; on one hand she didn't feel a ring, but a glove. What had she done?

"No," Itachi exhaled as he tried his hardest to keep his breaths steady, his hands reaching out to grasp the body in front of him. "S-Sasuke?"

Sakura's eyes shot open as she heard that name pass Itachi's lips, her pupils moved to look straight at the one who the dagger had hit. That blow was meant for Itachi, but her eyes saw something else. The blade was embedded in Sasuke's chest, the blood running down his lips falling down to the ground. Her eyes met his cold dying ones, the crimson glow of the sharingan starting to fade to black, his breaths descending into low bubbling noises.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked feeling his wrists tighten around hers his breaths causing more blood to roll down his chin. She could feel the heat starting to leave the flesh as a smile ran across his lips.

His eyes moved back as he glanced at Itachi. "A-are you alright, Itachi?"

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked his voice on the verge of breaking, his eyes full of confusion, the anger that was once in his heart flowing into the traces of sorrow that he was desperately starting to hide. "You idiot," he took a deep breath, "you idiot!"

Sasuke snickered. "Y-you thought that I…" he took a sharp breath. "That I would let you get the easy way out. I said that I would help you no matter what," he smirked weakly. "If I can't kill you then no one can."

Sakura let go of the blade backing away, watching as the one that she once loved fell back, dagger still embedded in his chest. All of the things that he said were still running through her mind, all of the pain that he had once been through reflecting in his closing eyes. She thought that she no longer loved him, but looking at the blood on her hands she knew one thing was true: she still did.

"Sasuke!" Itachi yelled as he caught his bleeding brother holding him closely. "No," he wrapped his hand around the handle to Shisui's dagger. "Sasuke, no," the sound of gagging overpowered the sound of Itachi's hyperventilation, Sakura turning away from what she had done.

She closed her eyes feeling tears form in them. She was fool for being so reckless, in the heat of trying to kill Itachi; she never thought Sasuke would jump in the way of the attack. His blood was on her hands, the fingers trembling as she watched the crimson liquid falling to the ground.

"_You said that you wouldn't die on me, you lied to me, Sasuke Uchiha. You lied to me, you're going to come back to me… you made a promise, Sasuke; you said you wouldn't die on me. You said that you wouldn't die if I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to you."_

"Naruto," she breathed as she looked down at Sasuke, his body shaking as he struggled to breathe, Itachi's arms tightening around him, his eyes closed tightly. He was hiding tears, she had done something unforgivable.

"Sasuke?" Itachi breathed shaking Sasuke slightly. "Sasuke?"

"I-Itachi?" Sasuke asked opening his eyes as he looked up at his brother, his lips trembling as he coughed, blood running from his lips. "I'm glad… I'm so glad that you're alright."

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he opened his eyes looking down at him. "Why? What did you do that? I could have taken it, I didn't want you to throw your life away for something so idiotic," he took a deep raspy breath. "Sasuke, I told you that I wasn't going to let you get hurt through this."

Through blurring vision, Sasuke gazed up into this brother's eyes watching them glaze with the traces of sadness; his slowing heart beat faster as he saw the emotion build up. All of the years he had longed to see the sorrow in his brother's eyes, the pain that he only heard through the walls while he was talking to Shisui, the ratcheted sounds of Itachi's breathing proved that time to be here. It was the trace of either unbearable sorrow or indescribable anger

"Itachi," Sasuke ran his fingers along the bottom of his brother's left eyes feeling the damp traces of tears. "I always knew… I always knew that you were still in there. Everyday I was reaching you more and more, now here you are…"

Itachi shook his head. "Sasuke, don't leave me like this, don't die on me," his hands pulled the dagger out of Sasuke's chest, the sound of his body starting to respond to the pain filling his ears. "You're going to be the one to kill me, that's why I kept you alive, that's why I joined the Akatsuki. It was all for _you_, Sasuke! It was all for _you_!"

Sasuke closed his eyes gently as the blood started to roll out of the wound in his chest. "Itachi," he coughed, more crimson fluid flowing out of his lips. "Mass murderers are supposed to feel nothing when someone close to them dies," he clung onto Itachi's hand. "After all of the people you killed how could one insignificant boy like me affect you like this?"

The older Uchiha closed his eyes, his hand squeezing Sasuke's tightly. "I'm not like the other mass murders, my intent is predetermined. I don't kill for the thrill. I don't kill because I want to. I kill because it's necessary. I wouldn't sacrifice myself for any of those fucking bastards that we called part of our clan…"

Sasuke smirked. "I knew that I'd get you to swear…"

Itachi's voice started to break harder. "But for you, for you I'd die a thousand deaths just for you to take one last breath," he looked at Shisui's dagger at his side, the blade covered with Sasuke's blood. "Stay with me a little longer, Sasuke. Don't leave me alone like this."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Itachi, I…" he lost all of the breath that was in his lungs, his body almost froze in Itachi's arms, one last exhalation passing the young boy's bloodied lips.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked feeling the fingers of Sasuke's hand start to let go of his, the blood stained hand on the young boy falling gently from the older ninja's grip. "No," he took a deep breath as he tried to contain himself. "No!"

As Sakura was about to open her mouth to say something Kabuto spoke up, his laughter resonating through the almost cleared wood. "Pathetic! That little boy threw himself in front of that dagger to save your life?" he laughed louder. "He had the chance to kill you and still he choose to let you live alone. Sasuke was even more heartless than you are."

Itachi let go of Sasuke's hand looking over at the dagger. _Shisui…_

"_After I'm done with you, I'm going to take everyone who hurt you, including that little boy that you call a brother."_

Shisui's dagger was the weapon that had penetrated his chest, the one that had drawn first blood. All of this time Shisui had told him every time that he closed his eyes that he was going to kill Sasuke. Itachi didn't believe in ghosts, and since Shisui was dead he never took it seriously. He never thought of that dagger, he had given it to him to prevent the threats that Shisui had left him with after he refused to kill Sasuke. He wasn't that much of a monster.

"Shisui," Itachi breathed as he looked down at the dagger and then at Sasuke. _I know what you would do, Shisui, you'd let him be, you'd leave with everything that you still have. He would mean nothing to you. I wish I could say that, but I'm done being you, time to live my own life. My debt to you is repaid._

He placed his fingers on Sasuke's pulse point feeling the slow pulsations of his pulse right at his fingertips. It wasn't over yet there was still time to save him. Maybe the Itachi that he had left behind with the Akatsuki would have left him for dead, but he couldn't do that anymore, it wasn't as easy as it was then. Now he had the power to save him. He had learned medical ninjutsu.

Could he risk it though? All of the times that he had attempted the technique, it always ended in blood loss, causing more damage than it was worth. He didn't want that for Sasuke. But did he have that much of a choice now? Sasuke was dying right before his eyes. If he didn't do anything he would definitely be lost, but if Itachi tried the chances would be slimmer.

He swallowed hard, placing his hands over the wound that was on Sasuke's chest feeling the blood seep through his fingers. He gasped as the feeling of Sasuke's blood. After all of the pain that he had caused the boy, there was finally a feeling deep in his stomach that could only be explained as one thing: guilt. He swore that he would never feel that, after what he did to Shisui he wasn't worthy of human emotions. What kind of human was he now? He couldn't even protect someone.

"It won't work," Kabuto taunted. "Every time that you try to use Mystical Palms all you do is destroy. You can't save him; his soul is too far gone to retrieve it."

Itachi's voice was almost emotionless trying to conceal everything inside, bottle it until he felt like he was going to break. "I still have to try."

He pressed his hands harder, focusing the chakra into his hands watching the glow fill his eyes. He could feel his heart race as he put everything that he had into the jutsu. All of the chakra that he had was going to be poured into this, even if he killed himself in the process.

"Sasuke," Itachi whispered, closing his eyes. "Stay with me," he shook his head, trying his hardest not to make the same mistakes that he had before.

This was no time for him to fail Sasuke, after twelve years of only making his life worse; he couldn't afford to do anything else. To an outsider, someone who didn't understand his inner feelings, he didn't love Sasuke. In reality he loved him more than he loved anything, more than he loved power, more than he loved his own life. He could feel the beating of Sasuke's heart start to slow down as he continued the jutsu; he was going to kill him if he kept this up.

"_You can do this; you can master that jutsu no matter how much you don't believe in yourself. I have faith in you."_

Itachi opened his eyes, starting to hear his brother's breathing slow down as time passed by. He was dying even though Itachi was doing everything that he could. He read all of the books; he memorized all of the concepts, why wasn't this working like all of the other techniques that he had come to know? Why was this so difficult? He was starting to understand what Sasuke was going through when he tried to master Great Clone Explosion.

"Please," Itachi panted, his body trembling visibly. Would anyone care what he wanted? If there was a God, would he give someone who had committed the sins that Itachi had the pleasure of having his brother back? Another pain that he never knew filled his body: hopelessness. No matter how hard he tried, Sasuke was always too far away; he was never going to catch up to the grand design.

Sakura looked at Itachi. "Itachi…"

"Shut up," he breathed as he glanced through his peripheral vision. "I'll kill you and Kabuto momentarily," he focused back on Sasuke closing his eyes tightly as if he were praying desperately.

There wasn't anything he wouldn't do to get him back. He learned his lesson; he learned that after his quest for power, he had to give up what mattered. Sasuke was the one who lived, the one who he had allowed to live, and now he was taken from him so harshly. He pushed harder as less blood ran in between his fingers. He had to become a medical ninja now; there was no more time for prepping. This was it. This was his only chance.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he looked at his brother's face, his dead eyes still half open, the flesh of his face a ghostly pale. He was so far away, worlds apart, and once again he was left all alone down here while Sasuke went away only to make him hurt more on the inside. He could only think of that night when Kabuto had hurt him before, the night when Itachi could only think of Shisui.

"Sasuke," he poured more chakra into his younger brother's chest, praying that not much more would be needed. "You're so far away, it's like you're in your own world where I can't touch you," his voice was almost gone, broken to the point where he couldn't speak even though there were no tears in his eyes. "Come back, Sasuke. It's so lonely now that you're gone," he took a deep breath. "Don't leave me alone."

The gagging noises coming from Sasuke's lips stopped as the wound was starting to close. He was going to heal the wound, but would it be soon enough to save his life? The sensation of killing Kabuto and Sakura were fresh in his mind. Everyone would pay for what happened to him, he was no longer going to show the mercy that he had promised. His life didn't matter if Sasuke was gone.

"I'm sorry," he whispered so Sakura and Kabuto couldn't hear. He was starting to run out of chakra only minimal amounts left before he went into the danger zone, to the point where he was going to start to cause physical distress. "I'm sorry that I brought you into this. I shouldn't have come back here. I'm such an idiot."

He felt his heart beat faster as he started to go into the area of chakra that he was trying to avoid; he was starting to grow exhausted. Even though the control that he had over chakra was almost flawless, he hadn't found that artistic attribute in this new area of being a ninja. He was using too much too rapidly, this was the first time that he used it on a semi vital wound. There was no way that he would be able to do this. Why was he even bothering?

Kabuto chuckled. "That boy that you have is really something, to think that Orochimaru wanted to make that pathetic creature his container. Why would he want such a weak will and mediocre skills? Why would he want another you?"

Itachi closed his eyes, his vision becoming blurry as he thought about all that was going on within him, his heart starting to speed up in his chest as he felt the blood gurgling in his lungs, rising into his mouth running from his lips dripping onto Sasuke's face. A smile graced his lips.

"If you die," he took a deep breath. "Then we die together, we cannot live without one another. You're dreams involve me and everything that I am cannot prosper if you leave me right now," he pushed more chakra into the technique, the light growing brighter. "Sasuke…"

He felt as his chakra was all gone, the majority used up, the only amount left was the amount that was needed to sustain his life. The red glow of the sharingan faded to obsidian. He looked down at his brother, the wound that was on his chest had closed, but his body still completely idle, just slight breaths passing his bloodied lips.

"Just a little more," Itachi panted as he placed his hands on Sasuke's chest, more blood rolling form his lips as he coughed, trying not to lose consciousness. He had to do try harder, he couldn't fail him. He made a promise; there was no way that he was going to break it so dramatically. He was going to save him.

"Try as much as you want," Kabuto scoffed. "_Real_ medical ninjutsu takes months to figure out. Even a prodigy like you will never be able to harness that amount of power. Sasuke is going to die right here, and it will be your fault, just like what you did to Shisui. You're a monster, Itachi, you don't care about anything, why start now? Your brother knows that you wouldn't be able to save him. You don't have the physical capabilities. You're too much of a dick to do that that."

"Screw you," Itachi muttered weakly continued to use the technique. "I know that I have made mistakes, I even know that he had no faith in me. I'm fine with that. No matter how he feels about me, I will always love him."

Sakura closed her eyes. "Itachi…"

Itachi continued to put all of his chakra into the young boy's body, the last ounce that he was willing to give going into his palms. Then the light faded, nothing was left for him to work with. It was over.

"No," he gasped as he looked at his hands and then down at Sasuke. "Not yet," he pressed his hands up against his chest. "There are no limits on my power, nothing can stop me, even if I have to risk the last strand of my chakra," he tried as he coughed up more blood watching as he covered Sasuke's body with it. "N-no," he took a deep breath. "I'm not done…"

Sakura turned away from Itachi as he looked down at his hands the fingers shaking in pain as Sasuke's blood ran down his arms. His hands curled into fists of rage as he looked over at her, his eyes burning ardently with the passion to kill her.

"You bitch!" Itachi rasped as he tired to stand up howling as he fell down, his damaged ankle buckling right where he stood. He let out a low moan as he looked down to see the bruises from the broken tissue from Kabuto's attack. "Damn it!"

"Oh, are you in pain?" Kabuto asked, moving from the place where he was sitting. "I'll make it all go away," he pulled out a senbon. "I love to see you in this much pain, you and that damn container are now out of the picture."

"Isn't Orochimaru going to be angry at you if you let Sasuke die?" Itachi looked up at the Sound ninja his hands, moving to the various senbon that were already embedded in his right leg. "Are you jealous that he doesn't want you? Or are you trying to kill him, Kabuto? What are you up to?"

Kabuto smirked as he looked at the struggle that Itachi was having in moving his leg. The poison was starting to spread; Itachi wasn't going to be able move in a few moments. He laughed seeing the sight of Itachi, what he had become. He was nothing more than a pathetic weakling with an invalid leg, the poison seeping through his veins, his body completely devoid of chakra, his brother's blood thick on his hands, and the formation of tears in his eyes.

"Itachi," Kabuto continued as he looked into his eyes, not fearing the black that had been left behind. "I don't give a damn what Orochimaru wants in that boy. That boy is the reason that I'm busting my ass, that boy is the reason why he merged with the Akatsuki. That boy is why they kicked you out. That boy over there is causing a whole war and still all you want to do is protect him."

"He's going to live," Itachi breathed as he looked over at him, the stab wound still bleeding lightly. "And if I have my way, he'll be another instance like me. Orochimaru won't be able to get hold of him because he's stronger. He's going to be stronger then that weak sannin in no time. He'll destroy him."

"Don't get cocky," Kabuto answered as he stood up, starting to walk over to Itachi. "The poison in your leg is taking root; you won't be able to move that for a while. You'll be able to watch your brother die. Not as painfully as I wanted, but he will die, because you couldn't save him, because even you weren't strong enough."

"Kabuto," Itachi growled as he moved back to Sasuke's body, placing his hands on his chest, the faint pulsations of his heart running through his fingertips. "That's where you're wrong again," he closed his eyes more blood running down his chin. "I will definitely save him; I'm strong enough to do that."

Kabuto scoffed. "The Akatsuki picked up a joke when they recruited you. You were heartless when you were with them. Nothing got to you. You were perfect. You were just like your cousin. Now you are nothing but that sniveling little brat. Keeping the emotions locked in for seventeen years really got to you, didn't it?"

Itachi coughed harder as he tried to use more of his chakra. "You're going to be alright, Sasuke. You're going to make it through this. I'm not going to lose you like this," he closed as he bit at his lips, trying to dull the pain. "And you wanted to kill me? You wanted to avenge your clan? Do you think that dying a dishonorable death is going to allow your soul to be at peace?"

Sakura moved closer to him. "Itachi, stop it," she took a deep breath. "There's no use hurting yourself. It wasn't an accident; he wanted to dodge in front of you. He did that because he loves you. Leave him alone, that's what people like you are good at. Like he said mass murderers aren't supposed to care when someone close to them dies."

"Shut up," Itachi breathed as he closed his eyes tighter still, his voice full of anger, the tone turning into a roar. "I'll kill you if you say one more thing, you whore!"

Sakura backed away and looked at the ground. "I wanted to kill _you_."

"I said shut up, Sakura!" he breathed as heard Sasuke cough, blood rolling down his chin. "After I'm done with this I'm going to kill you. You and Kabuto are both going to die. No one will miss you, Sakura. You're a missing ninja anyway."

"So are you," Sakura breathed, hearing him chuckle. "What's so funny? Why are you laughing?"

He closed his eyes as he continued to muster enough chakra to help save Sasuke just a little bit. "It's a crime to hurt me, Sakura. They passed a law saying that anyone caught harming me will suffer the consequences. Well, I'll execute you from them."

She looked down at Sasuke's body and then at the blood that coated her hands more tears coming to her eyes. It was true, she could tell by the way that Itachi was acting that it was hurting him on the inside. He wasn't the monster that Sasuke had cursed for the rest of his life, he cared for him more than Sakura could. She would never have the courage to do what he was doing; she wouldn't be able to put everything on the line for him no matter how much she loved him.

"Sasuke," Itachi rasped as the light of his chakra glowed brighter, the flesh of his face becoming paler. "Come on, Sasuke, you can do it, you're stronger than this," he took a deep breath. "Don't make my sacrifices die like this. You're so selfish; this isn't about _you_, Sasuke, this about _us_."

Sakura crawled closer. "Itachi…"

"This is your fault, Sakura," he hissed. "I won't forget that. The rumor is that I don't kill unless I'm attacked first. That blow was meant for me, you were trying to kill me. This only happened because of the senbon you threw at my legs so that I wouldn't move; Sasuke was trying to protect me from _you_. When we get out of this, I'm not going to save you; I'm going to destroy you. You're going to die for what you've done to me," he took a deep breath. "To my clan…"

Kabuto gasped. "But I thought…"

"It's true; I detached myself from them. I refused to continue on with a clan that was never going to progress. All I could see was the downward spiral; I couldn't see anything coming of me staying there. I destroyed them for that reason, and kept one alive: Sasuke," his voice was low almost a dull whisper. "He's the only one left, but now, we can finally be together. The Uchiha that got away from the strictures of Konoha, I attach myself to him."

Sakura closed her eyes as she tired to move her leg. "We're enemies? Does that mean that you're threatening my life? Are you going to kill me because your idiotic brother jumped in the way of my attack of his own free will?"

Itachi glared at her. "Don't try my patience, you'll find the effects worse than anything you could have ever dreamed of."

Kabuto looked over at Itachi. _He's becoming his own person. I never thought anyone who got a taste of the darkness could become this human. All of the events in his life after he was banished from the Akatsuki must have changed him. He no longer fights for the hell of it; he fights for a reason, for someone who was precious to him. That very characteristic is almost honorable. Maybe he isn't like the rest of those bastards. He's the one who survived and kept human qualities. He's the one who lived._

Itachi pushed more chakra into his brother's body, his breathing reaching various hitches. This was the last attempt he could do before he killed himself. The harder he tried the more Sasuke seemed like he was going to die. Was this jutsu never going to work for him, even now when he needed it the most? He closed his eyes tightly, all hope that he had once put into himself diminishing quickly. He couldn't even live up to his own standards.

Suddenly he heard cough sound through the air as his eyes shot open looking down at where his hands were rested against. He could feel Sasuke's body start to move, his eyes struggling to open as he took a few deep breaths. Dark eyes looked up into his as he shakily inhaled looking down at his younger brother.

"Sasuke? Itachi asked, his eyes wide with shock.

The young boy looked up at him, his voice a dull whisper. "I-Itachi…" he took a deep breath. "You…? You saved me?" a light cough passed his lips as he looked deeper into Itachi's eyes. "You did it? You mastered Mystical Palms?"

Itachi closed his eyes, his whole body shaking, rushing to embrace Sasuke tightly, his chin resting in the crook of his neck. "Sasuke!" he held onto him tighter, his breathing becoming shallow, more rapid. "Sasuke! You're alive…"

Sasuke closed his eyes feeling something warm trail down his skin where his brother rested up against him. "Itachi, you're bleeding," he heard Itachi let out a low ratcheted breath. "You're bleeding."

They stayed liked that for a few moments, Itachi's embrace tightening around Sasuke's body, his body trembling with every breath that he let out. The warmth continued to roll down Sasuke's back as fingernails dug into his shirt, a smile gracing the younger boy's lips. He knew what the warmth really was. They were tears, but to keep his brother's dignity, he convinced himself it was blood.

"It's okay, Itachi," Sasuke breathed as he moved closer to his brother's body, wrapping his own arms loosely around his body, feeling a small steam of kisses along his jaw line. "I'm alive now, you did it."

Sakura looked at the two of them sitting on the ground, her green eyes trailing to the ground. _Sasuke, maybe I was wrong about your brother, the sensational passion that he has for you is something that I could never compete with. But I wanted to do that for you, I wanted to be the one who you loved. I loved you with all of my heart, but I was never the one for you, was I?_

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, looking at his brother's leg. "You're hurt."

"It's nothing," Itachi breathed moving away from Sasuke, his onyx eyes were still swollen from the pain, blood running down his lips leaving dark trails in its wake. "I just used a little too much charka," he smiled a fake smile watching Sasuke's eyes start to go through an emotional descent. "I'm fine."

Sasuke looked over at Sakura. "Itachi, which one of these people hurt you?"

Itachi's fake smile faded as his brother's hand moved to grasp the bloodied dagger that was lying on the ground. "Sasuke, don't do anything reckless, I just healed you, I'm not even sure if I finished the job. I did just enough to allow you to function."

"I said that I would die for you," Sasuke stated, starting to stand up looking straight at Sakura. "Sakura, I'll kill you if you hurt him," he grasped the dagger tighter as he stood up looking over his shoulder to glance at Itachi. "I'm going to restore your dignity, Itachi," he started to move.

Itachi shook his head. "Stop it!" he struggled to get to his feet as the genin looked straight at him, Kabuto's eyes widening as he took in the sight of the trembling ninja. "Sasuke, are you trying to disgrace us? Are you trying to disgrace me by allowing these worthless ninja to be able to make you turn into a monster? Don't waste your time on the weak," he took a labored breath, trying to keep his balance. "Sakura's death will come soon enough; I'll make sure of that."

Kabuto looked up at him and then closed his eyes. "Itachi…" he took a deep breath. "I want to fix your leg. I might hate you, but I can't stand looking at you, not like that," he examined Itachi from head to toe. "I don't want to see you in this much pain before we get our final battle."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Why am I supposed to trust you?"

"Since when are you so distrustful?" Kabuto asked with a slight smile. "I'll make a deal with you, you let us go until next time and I'll heal your leg without any complications. I don't think that Akatsuki would appreciate me damaging you too bad, physically anyway," he couldn't take his vision off of the swelling around the ankle. _He's hurt pretty badly, all for that boy. He's not the same as the Itachi they briefed me on, this one's more aggressive, he just threatened to kill a twelve-year-old girl. I've got a lot of work on my hands if this is how he wants to play this game._

Itachi fell to the ground taking a deep breath, his eyes closing tightly. "You have you deal, I won't kill you yet. But next time we meet, that girl that you call your accomplice is dead!"

Sasuke looked back at his brother as he heard the words about Sakura, what happened while he was unconscious what did he do to her? All he could here was Sakura's low sobbing as she understood what was going to happen. Itachi had just put a death threat on her, a death threat that she knew was going to go through.

"It's a deal then," Kabuto smiled as he brought himself to his feet, shakily balancing on his arms for lift. His steps were awkward, his vision blurry due to the loss of his glasses. His dark eyes looked straight at the panting younger ninja, his hand extending to touch his head, a smile rolling across his lips.

"Kabuto," Itachi breathed not moving his head, swallowing hard.

"Itachi," Kabuto knelt down in front of him looking at the bloody tendrils that were on his chin, wiping them away with his thumb. "You surprised me there for a few seconds; I thought you were really going to kill her. You're full of all sorts of surprises."

He placed a hand on Itachi's ankle the glow of Mystical Palms starting to take effect as the younger ninja winced in pain. "Kabuto, I don't know what you're trying to do? Are you trying to help me or are you trying to hurt me?"

Kabuto looked into Itachi's eyes, his face for once blank of all emotion except for confusion. For once in their whole relationship they had finally stumped one another. Kabuto always thought of Itachi as that man who was always a step ahead of him. Itachi thought of him as that man who sat by Orochimaru's side but deserved so much more.

"Itachi," Kabuto continued. "I don't know what you're trying to get at?"

"Are you going to kill me because Orochimaru wants me out of the picture?" Itachi's eyes eased up a little, his breathing still as difficult as it was before, blood streaming down his lips as he coughed. "Kabuto, how much more are you going to do to me?"

The medical ninja smiled as he took his hand away from Itachi's ankle. "I'm going to push you to the limit. I want to have my fun with you, Itachi, see why Lord Orochimaru wanted you for a potential container," he moved his right hand onto Itachi's bare leg, his left hand rolling his pants up. "I'm going to neutralize the poison in you as well. If too much of that stuff is in your body for too long, it could do damage to your body. I wouldn't want that to happen to you. Not after we made a deal."

Itachi hissed as he turned from Kabuto. "You better watch that accomplice of yours; otherwise I'm not going to be held responsible for what happens to her the next time we meet. Even if Sasuke is alive and well, I'm not going to forget that it was her fault. She's become a necessary loss."

"You think that I care that you're going to kill her?" Kabuto asked, digging through his pouch for the anti-venom. "If she dies, there will nothing on my conscience. If you kill her then I will have faith in you, I will see that you are still a man and not a coward."

"Woman?" Itachi asked. "You're going back to Academy level insults, Kabuto. You know that fact that you called me a woman is only going to shorten your lifespan."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from a member of the Akatsuki," he closed his eyes his hands starting to glow as he pulled the poison out of Itachi's leg, the contents actually visible.

Itachi looked away from the procedure, seeing his own blood being pulled with the poison made his stomach churn. He had never had this much blood cover his body before. Even on the night of the massacre, he never felt his hands being lacquered with crimson liquid, even more pouring from his lips. The pain that was pulsing through his body almost unbearable as he clenched his blood soaked hands.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Kabuto asked his voice calm. "That means that it's working. You'll be walking in no time at all," he looked at the droplets of blood that was spilling out with the poison. _It's taking a lot of blood with it, this could turn out to be an unsafe endevour, this could actually kill him if I'm not careful._

"Kabuto," Itachi breathed weakly. "I don't want your master to win this; you know what pain he's caused me. I'm telling you this because I know deep within your being you want to fight him too, you want to make him pay for what he's doing to you. You're nothing but his slave, his lackey. Can you live like that?"

"I'm not in my rebellious stage, Itachi; my hormones aren't still raging from my teenage years," he looked into Itachi's eyes as he continued to extract the poison. "Why rebel against something when you can have so much fun destroying it."

"You and that foul perspective of yours," Itachi snickered. "You don't give a damn about Orochimaru; you would sell him out to the highest bidder. At the end of this battle, I'm going to be that bidder. I'm going to need to know what those bastards are planning."

"And if I win?" Kabuto asked.

"Your victory should be enough, what I want out of all of this is more than just defeating you, I have to destroy them. No one messes with me and gets away with their life," Itachi chuckled lightly as he looked at the extraction. "Konoha has promise though; there are plenty of ninja for me to destroy to prove to myself that I can still destroy."

Kabuto took his hand away from the leg as he pulled the senbon with the poisonous blood away from Itachi. "There, you should be alright for now, it's probably going to be a little numb for a while. Hell with as much poison as she put into you, you shouldn't even be able to feel your leg."

Itachi looked back at Sasuke. "Kabuto, I have a favor to ask you," he closed his eyes his fingers clenching into a fist. "Please, Kabuto, tell Orochimaru to reconsider his choice. He might want the sharingan, but please make him reconsider taking Sasuke. After I'm done with him, he won't need that bastard's power."

Kabuto smirked as he placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder. "This is a fight over the nine-tails, not your brother. I don't want him as the new container anyway. Besides if you win this fight, the Akatsuki will destroy us. Everything rides on this competition."

Itachi snickered. "I'm just glad we got to talk civilly before I defeat you and kill your accomplice. It makes the pleasure of destroying them more enticing."

He moved forward, his leg slightly sore, a limp on his right side, toward Sasuke not looking back at Kabuto or the sobbing girl. He knew if he won that everything that he wanted would come true, even if he was the darker evil of the two. His hand rested on Sasuke's shoulder as he heard the sound of Shisui's dagger sliding back into the sheath.

The blood that they had both lost was still clung tightly onto Itachi's skin, the liquid dripping to the ground staining almost everything in their path. Itachi closed his eyes tightly trying to ignore the sensation of the warmth of Sasuke's blood between his fingers. The little string of control he had over himself was starting to break. He was almost as the point of no return.

They walked side by side almost silent, the sound of the dagger continuously sliding in and out of the sheath filling their ears. Sasuke had a lot on his mind, he had to have. He was stabbed, and almost killed by his old teammate, but then he was revived by the person that he thought was the definition of all evil in the world.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked, looking down at him. "What's wrong?"

The young boy was quickly broken out of the trance that the dagger had hypnotized him into, his eyes filled with shock for a few short moments. "Nothing," he answered quickly looking back at the dagger. "Nothing's wrong."

Itachi sighed. "Sasuke," he looked forward as they continued weaving through the trees. "We failed, you know, we weren't able to save your teammate, nor were we able to take Kabuto out before he could do more damage."

Sasuke's eyes closed tighter. "I'm sorry, Itachi," he bowed his head. "If I was stronger none of this would have happened."

"You saved my life, Sasuke," Itachi continued. "I was so caught up in trying to take out Kabuto that I forgot about Sakura. I've been so obsessed with winning that I never really saw what could happen if you lose yourself. Sasuke, what happened back there was what I've needed for four years, a reality check."

Sasuke looked up at his brother. "Reality check? Is that what it was to you?"

"It showed me that there are consequences, when a person grows so obsessed, they forget about all that they wanted. I told you once that's what happens when you become excellent. You become isolated, arrogant; it's not the life that people would risk anything for. It's cold and lonely, and you get used to it, after a while. Then when you find out that all that you've done was another dead end, it's another unanswered question," he looked down at Sasuke. "You showed me I've been going at this the wrong way. I shouldn't rush things because I'm upset. They'll get what they deserve soon, and then you can kill me."

Sasuke looked at the dagger. "Itachi, about that… do you think after I risked my life to save you I'm going to kill you? Do you think that I'm going to let my sacrifice be in vain? You were right; this was never about killing you. It was always about attention. I wanted you to accept me even if I am weak. I wanted you to regard me as a ninja. All I did back there was disgrace you."

"Disgrace?" Itachi asked with a scoff. "Sasuke, you aren't a disgrace, you were going to kill her. I stopped you. I saved her pathetic life. Sakura was the one who drew the first real blood. You saved her from making the biggest mistake of her life, but still she has to die. She hurt you, Sasuke; she almost killed you in that attack. That girl is going to die."

Sasuke moved closer to his brother looking at the blood that covered him. "Thank you, Itachi. Thank you for giving me this chance for power. Thank you for trying to tell me what I have to do to become better than you one day."

"That's why I'm here," Itachi stated as he looked down at him. _Anything that keeps you here with me and away from Orochimaru, I'm not going to hand you over to anyone, Sasuke. If they want you, they're going to have to kill me first._

Sasuke moved closer still as he took a deep breath. "I can't wait to go to sleep when we get home."

"Yeah," Itachi grinned as he pulled the bottle of alcohol out taking a sip of it. "I'd say that we're done for the day, a break would be spectacular," he took another long sip of it hearing Sasuke scoff.

"What other habits did you pick up from ANBU other than alcoholism and insomnia?" Sasuke asked as he watched Itachi finish off the bottle. "You just got your ass handed to you by a twelve-year-old girl and a nineteen-year-old wimp and you're celebrating?"

"There are other reasons why this is a happy day for you," Itachi breathed glancing up at the rain clouds the sunlight leaving their presence; they were once again in the darkness. "Sasuke," he stopped walking as he put the bottle away his eyes softening to a soothing gaze. "You won the bet."

Sasuke blinked twice as he looked at his brother. "But the jutsu… and Kabuto… Sakura… we lost. How could I win the bet? I did everything against what you said. I only brought you down."

"You brought back feelings for that damn clan that I thought I lost a long time ago. You're the only one left, the one that showed me that there is more to life than just cold hard hatred, you showed me that there is still hope for the Uchiha," Itachi looked at him with a slight smile. "Sasuke, you're growing more than I thought you ever would. Even after what I did to you that night by the river you still…"

"It wasn't rape," Sasuke repeated. "Do I have to sound like a broken record around you? I wasn't raped; I was brought to my senses the same way you were when I was stabbed in the chest. You hurt me, I hurt you."

Itachi chuckled. "You're vile."

"You're not as evil as everyone thinks you are," Sasuke breathed. "At least not around me, I'm starting to understand why you kept me alive," his eyes closed tightly right before he looked straight into Itachi's eyes.

Itachi adverted the glance started to walk again "It's going to rain soon; we should get you out of the storm before you get yourself sick again," he didn't look back at Sasuke as the boy started to move after him.

"_After I'm done with this I'm going to kill you. You and Kabuto are both going to die here. No one will miss you, Sakura; you're a missing ninja anyway."_

"We have a lot of work to do after this, it showed me that I have to work you harder and take full supervision for your training. If the absolute worst comes to worst I'm going to look up ways to activate the mangekyou sharingan another way," he continued to walk toward the way that they had entered. "We have only a short amount of time to operate," he glanced back. "But I'm putting my trust in you, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded shakily. "I won't let you down."

Itachi walked forward feeling the blood roll down his fingers. _Shisui, once you called me weak, you said that I was nothing more than a kid who got lucky. You were testing me that night seeing if I was capable enough to kill you, and I was, I never really let myself decide what I wanted then. All I wanted was you to love me while everyone else was turning from me, but you did that same, _he looked back at Sasuke gazing a the bloody dagger. _Even after all that I did to him, tortured him, raped him, he still hasn't turned from me. He still thinks of me as a human, he's the only one who could save me from hell, the hell that you put me in._

Sasuke reached his side, grasping his hand tightly as he rested his weight up against him. He looked up at him with a smile, he was just glad that they came out alive, hopeful that he was going to get the power that desired for so long. The time had come where he had put everything on the line, nothing was too important for him to covet; Itachi was the only entity that mattered.

"Itachi," he breathed closing his eyes lightly, almost completely fatigued, his weight resting even more heavily up against Itachi's arm. His breathing was becoming more relaxed as he fell deeper into his daze. He lost too much blood.

He picked him up taking him in his arms looking down at his blood covered body, coming here with him was mistake. If he hadn't worked so hard on trying to perfect that technique, Sasuke would have been killed. He had to work harder to make sure that would never happen again. He would never see this much of his brother's blood, feel the warmth run down his skin. He promised that he wouldn't let anything happen to him. He would be damned if he broke it one more time. His hand ran across Sasuke's cheek as he looked forward, the first drop of rain falling down on him.

_Never again._

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that it wasn't how you wanted it to be, but it was a stalemate between the two of them seeing as niether of them really got what they wanted (Sakura is still with Kabuto and Itachi is still alive and breathing.) The next few chapters are going to be fillers with no real action to them (this will be over around chapter 29 or 30) So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that Sasuke should have died? Honesty is always good. 


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own anything

**Warnings: **This chapter is almost a complete filler, only a few aspects will be used in future chapters. It also contains, some blood/violene, coarse language, references to rape, some sexual content, the use of alcohol, incest, yaoi, OOC, and we all know about the canon.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight KakaIta, references to ShisIta

* * *

The sound of the rain hit the window as Itachi laid his younger brother on the bed hearing a gentle moan pass through his lips. The blood was still thick on his body, the tear in his shirt where the dagger hit making the biggest impact on his vision. He almost lost him out there; he made the vital mistake of allowing the senbon to hit him. What the hell happened? That's all he could ask himself. He was supposed to be in control. 

He tried to move looking down at his ankle, the muscles still numbed from Kabuto's attack. The bruises were already starting to form. Taking a deep breath, he counted his blessings; he was still alive after that fight. He looked over at Sasuke watching him breathe, his body snuggling closer to the pillow, the sheets getting stained with blood. There was more of it than he thought.

"Damn it," Itachi breathed as he looked out the window seeing the rain continue to fall, taking a deep breath. He looked at his hands seeing the blood that covered them; he had gone through more than he ever had before. The Akatsuki was pretty low key when it came to injures, he never got this hurt before, his partner made sure of it. There wasn't that security anymore; Orochimaru had taken that privilege away the day when they told Itachi that it was all over.

He stared blankly at his ring, closing his eyes as he thought about all that he did. The day when they let him go he was devastated, lost. There was no way that he thought he could go on. Now he knew that they were nothing to him, just like he was nothing to them. He only wore the ring to remind him of the mistake that he made with them all of those years ago.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked, the sheets rustling under his moving body. "Are you alright?"

He looked over at him with a slight smile on his face. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Sasuke, all of this time that I've been with you, I never wanted anything along those lines to happen to you," he shook his head. "My plan is coming apart right in front of me."

Sasuke sat up in bed looking into his brother's eyes seeing the pain that was deep within the irises. "Itachi, you worry me when you get like this. I always think that you're going to do something idiotic," he touched Itachi's shoulder lightly. "You're not weak; you just were caught off guard."

"I shouldn't have been caught of guard," he looked down at his ring and took a deep breath. "I was in ANBU. I was in Akatsuki. I unlocked the mangekyou sharingan. I should have known what he was up to," he moved his vision to the window. "I guess they were right, I am nothing without them."

Sasuke buried his face in his pillow, letting out an exasperated groan. "Are you always this dramatic or am I just lucky these days? All you do is bitch, Itachi. You look around the house and that damn ring on your finger and all you see are memories," he glanced up at the rain that was tossing through the air.

Itachi looked down at Sasuke, the young boy's eyes filled with so much emotion, his heart melting into a warm bubbling puddle as he gazed into them. He had never seen Sasuke like that before in their whole time together. He was frozen. His palms were sweating as he tried to avoid his gaze.

"I always think I'm second place," Sasuke breathed moving closer to him, feeling the warmth of his body circulate through his body, warming his cheeks with a slight blush. "Sometimes, I feel as though if I close my eyes…" he felt his brother move from next to him, his hands grasping his shoulders, pulling him into a deep kiss, his tongue slipping past his lips.

Sasuke let out a low moan his hands moving down to the bottom of Itachi's shirt pulling at the article, pushing it up a little, his palms kneading the flesh of his abs, hitches coming in his brother's breathing. Tongues clashed harder, Sasuke's onyx eyes closing tightly, tears rolling down his cheeks, his hands moving from the warming flesh, moving back onto the bed to ease their bodies onto the mattress.

"Itachi," Sasuke gasped as his brother's lips touched the throbbing flesh of his pulse point. He giggled as his brother's hands pinned his wrists down to the mattress, Itachi's almost dominating weight on top of him. His breath struggling to pass his lips, sweat forming on his flesh, the pleasure that was surging off of Itachi's lips surging through his body.

Releasing Sasuke's hands Itachi backed away for a few seconds catching his breath, his eyes still locked on the young boy's body. His fingers trail down Sasuke's body reaching to take the shirt that he was wearing pushing it up to expose the trembling flesh of his stomach beneath.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed his toes curling, as his eyes shut tighter, feeling the cold hit his body as his shirt was removed from his body. Deep in his heart, he knew this was wrong; this was the reason why Sakura was on the dark side. This was why Naruto never looked at him with the same warm eyes. Kakashi was never going to be able to be the same, everything taken away from him so harshly.

There was a time when he'd have to draw the line; there were limits that he shouldn't push anymore. Every time he thought he could be completely happy it was at someone else's expense. He was becoming a new person when he was around Itachi, he felt as though his life was finally worth something, he could finally feel like there was deeper reason why he survived.

Tear formed in his eyes as Itachi's lips took his again, he wanted it, he wanted Itachi more than he had ever wanted anything. No matter how much that was true, he could only see the pain in Konoha he was causing. Sasuke knew that if it wasn't for him, Itachi wouldn't be like this, life wouldn't be like this, he would be just like he was before. He'd be miserable, but everyone else would be the same, life wouldn't be so confusing.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed pushing his brother away from him. "No," he shook his head. "Stop it."

Itachi backed away more licking his lips. "What's wrong?" he didn't sound concerned at all, his eyes almost blank of all expression. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up into his dark eyes. "I think we should cool it for a while. We just got back from a mission; I don't think we're in any condition."

"Okay," Itachi nodded. "God, you make it sound like it's my fault."

Sasuke swallowed hard as he closed his eyes tightly. "I don't know who did this," he opened them watching as his brother adverted his eyes. "Itachi, after what happened in the woods, what I did to Sakura, what she did to you, there's no telling what will happen if we continue this game."

Itachi nodded as he stood up. "Alright," his eyes stiffened with a confusion that Sasuke had never seen. He started to walk away not looking back at him. "I'll continue my mission alone. I'm sorry to inconvenience you."

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed getting out of bed.

"You could have said no when I came back to you instead of playing with me," Itachi looked back at him, his eyes the same red glow of the sharingan that he had grown to fear. "I should have known that you were just like the rest of them. People are all the same, everyone's the same. I was an idiot to think otherwise."

Sasuke watched as his hands moved to grip the Akatsuki robe on the ground, his brother pulling it back onto his body, his other hand moving to pick up his forehead protector tying it around its old spot, the Akatsuki robe pull over his body. Sasuke closed his eyes tightly trying to get that image out of his head. That was the man who had tortured him endlessly by the river. That was the horrifying monster that lived inside of Itachi's soul.

"I'll be out of your way," he picked up the katana, his eyes looking back at Sasuke chuckling at the scared expression on his face. "Oh, Sasuke, I'm not going to rape you. We won't start this again."

He started to walk toward the door Sasuke getting out of bed. "So that's it, you're going to run away from your problems? Or are you going to kill me like you killed everyone else? Itachi, I just think for the best interest of the village it would be the best for me to let you go before you get killed."

"Let me go?" Itachi asked stopping again. "What do you want, Sasuke? What do you want out of life? Is _this_ was you want? You want me to leave you so the village will be proud of you and you'll get a nice big pat on the head? You're a pathetic person, Sasuke, if you want to be a lackey to Konoha, then be my guest. I wasted enough time on you. If it weren't for you, I would have finished this mission before Kabuto came."

Sasuke looked at the ground licking his lips. "Itachi," he heard his brother walk out of the room, his footsteps leading down the walkways to the front of the house where he would leave him forever, not looking back for a second. "I love you…"

He fell to his knees, his eyes closing tightly as he looked around the room. All that they had done, the way that Itachi had said he could finally trust someone, it was all fresh in his mind. Sasuke could still feel Itachi's tears rolling down the back of his neck as he held him closely, his body exhausted from Mystical Palms. Itachi had given him everything that had ever mattered to him.

Burying his face in his hands, he sobbed, wept, cried how he did the night when everyone died, the tears never ending. He felt as though he lost a piece of himself a piece that he was never going to get back for as long as he lived. He was really gone this time, and it would take four years for him to come back to him. It was over.

"Itachi," he breathed as he wrapped his arms around himself. A part of him wished that he had raped him before he left. It would have given him something to remember him by. Just one last time, one last thrill. He didn't want these memories that were left in his head, not this pain that he knew would never go away no matter how much he prayed it would.

"Itachi," he breathed again looking at the dagger on the ground. The misery he thought this would prevent was only caused more as he tried to climb back into the bed, the smell of his brother's flesh still staining the sheets. He was an idiot.

-----

Kakashi walked out of the apartment building Gai following him closely. "I can handle myself, Gai, I don't need you to go everywhere with me," he looked back at the other jounin seeing the look of concern on his face. "I just want to go talk to the Hokage again."

"The last time you went to talk to him you came home shaking," Gai shook his head. "Kakashi, you're not in any condition to continue with these affairs. Your body has become too weak from your encounter with Itachi, you could kill yourself."

Kakashi continued to walk away leaving Gai behind, the other jounin obediently standing there, not chasing him. The last couple of days were the worst for Kakashi, all he could think about was Itachi. Not the way that he thought that he would, he thought of him as a younger Itachi, the one who he used to talk to, ask about the various bruises that were on his body. He thought of the young one who used to smile, but always seemed like he was somewhere else. He thought of him at the age when Itachi started not to trust people.

He kept on walking down the street the light wind blowing up against his face. It was horrible weather these days. How could he have two students out in the world with weather like this? He sighed, it couldn't be helped, Sasuke and Sakura were the two that he always thought someone would kidnap.

A chill ran down his spine as his eyes caught sight of a person walking toward the exit of Konoha. It seemed like a phantom from his worst nightmares something that he wanted to block out but never could. The person kept walking closer, his eyes not looking at Kakashi at all, his vision fixed on the exit.

"Itachi?" Kakashi asked as Itachi walked past him. "Long time no see," he turned to him, the younger ninja was continuing to walk away from him, his movements slow and somewhat pained. "Where do you think your going?"

"What does it matter to you?" Itachi snapped as he continued to walk away. Kakashi could tell what was wrong with him, the look in his scarlet eyes, the outfit that he was wearing. He didn't see him wear that the last time that he saw him. "Leave me alone, Kakashi, nothing I do is going to concern Konoha right now."

The jounin walked after him. "Where's Sasuke?"

Itachi scoffed. "At home, I left him back there where he belongs," he took a deep breath. "I know what you're going to say, and it's true, you won this round. Sasuke doesn't belong to me, he never did. He truly is your student, I can tell by how cold he is to me," he walked faster toward the exit. "Now leave me to my goal."

Kakashi's voice became louder, what passed from his lips making Itachi stop dead in his tracks. "What about Sasuke? What are you going to do with him? I thought that he was under your wing now."

Itachi hissed. "You can have him back, he's chosen his path. I'm not going to stop him, just like I don't intend on him stopping me from what I must do. We made a promise to each other, but we broke those bonds."

Kakashi walked forward the clicking of his cane filling the atmosphere, echoing off of all of the buildings. "So you learned not to trust him either? Itachi, life doesn't have to be like this. It could be different, you could go back to that boy and you can finish what you wanted to do."

Itachi chuckled again. "Oh Kakashi, if only I could, but you see, he's the one who kicked me out. He blames me for what happened to Sakura, he blames me for all of the pain that he's going through. He can't blame himself for any of it. I didn't want him to be like this. This isn't what I planned."

Kakashi scoffed. "So you're going to run again?"

"What else can I do?" Itachi asked. "He said that he didn't want to be with me anymore. I'm going to respect that last request that he made to me. Sasuke was different from the rest. I thought he was. I loved him since he was a young child, I guess I just wished that everything was going to go my way," he continued walking away from Kakashi not looking back at him. "But now I'm going to make it all better. I'm going to get back at Akatsuki, Orochimaru, and then my death will come to me, whether it's by Sasuke's hand or not."

Kakashi clenched his fists tightly. "You're a sick bastard, Itachi, did you know that?" he shook his head closing his eyes. "Do you honestly think that you can do all of this? Are you going to buy into what the Akatsuki is trying to get you to do? They're trying to make you into one of them; they're trying to make you into a monster. You aren't a monster, Itachi, you're not even close. You're mentally unwell."

The younger ninja turned to him. "What are you trying to prove, Kakashi? Do you think that talking to me is going to keep me away from the darkness that I want to go into? I'm not a child anymore, Kakashi; you're too late to stop me. You're always late for everything. You were late look at me, look at Sasuke, and look at this village. It's true, most of the blame for the monster I've become goes to me, but you're not to be untouched. You're the one who didn't save me. You let me drown."

Kakashi dropped his cane as he looked into Itachi's eyes. "You damn brat."

Itachi looked away from him. "Are you going to drag me back to Sasuke? Are you going to smack me across the face and say I'm being an idiot? What are you going to do to stop me, Kakashi?"

Kakashi moved closer to Itachi wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug pulling him closer to his body, hearing hitches in the younger ninja's breathing. He held onto him tighter, feeling his bury his face in his shoulder; his arms hugging back at him. The wind blew against Itachi's back, pushing against Kakashi's face.

He didn't want to let Itachi go, the second that he did, there would be no future for Sasuke. Sasuke saw something in Itachi, something that he couldn't live without. Kakashi didn't want Sasuke to lose that security. He was always worried about him the most out of all of the ninja on his team; Sasuke needed someone to allow him to unleash his potential.

"Please don't leave him," Kakashi breathed holding onto him tighter. "Or I'll kill you, Itachi. I promise that I will destroy you if you even think about leaving that boy behind, whether he wanted you to or not. You two need to start thinking for yourselves, you especially. You're alone now, there's no organization to tell you what to do anymore. You can choose your own destiny."

The younger ninja loosened his grip backing away; his face was once again unimpressed. "I have no choice but to leave, Kakashi. I would love to stay with him, but all I do is put him in these terrible situations that I can't get him out of. That's why I'm back in this outfit, that's why I'm wearing this forehead protector, it's because there's nothing here that I want or wants me."

"You're going to give up all emotion to leave?" Kakashi asked with a scoff. "Are you going to do that to yourself again? There's nowhere for you to go, Itachi, there's nothing for you. All you'll do out there is live lonely and die. Is that what you want?"

"I'm not scared of death," Itachi breathed.

"Itachi," Kakashi yelled as he curled his hand into a fist. "Quit screwing around and tell me what you really want. Forget Sasuke, tell me what you want out this plan that you came up with."

The younger ninja started to walk away again, not answering Kakashi's question. Finally he took a deep breath, his voice sounding back to the older ninja. "I wanted him to finally be recognized as a ninja. I wanted him to finally have the power that he craved so his soul could be in peace. Now all I want is to forget him, forget everything that I wanted. I'm a fool this was something different. People are all the same."

"People are not the same!" Kakashi breathed. "I'm not going to let you two believe that you can't control your own lives. It's true that your father was far from allowing you to have independence, but there was something deeper than that. You're scared that you're going to lose him. You fear that you don't have enough power to save him, or that you have too much power that you won't even care about him."

Itachi turned to him, his eyes closed tightly. "What are you trying to do, Kakashi? Are you trying to make me go back there to Sasuke and pretend that I can take a backseat role? Do you want me to forget all that I've done to him in the last couple of days? What do you want me to do?"

Kakashi touched Itachi's face lightly. "Something that you've never done before, I want you to follow your heart. I want you to do what you what makes you feel alive; I don't enjoy seeing you as a walking shell. Seeing you with that organization didn't make it any better, you weren't human."

Itachi pushed him away scoffing as his eyes closed again. "You think you know everything, don't you, Kakashi? You think that you've got me all figured out, you think that I'm doing all of this because I'm scared," he curled his hand into a fist and drove it into Kakashi's cheek knocking him to the ground. "Don't you even think that you know me, you'll never know."

Kakashi grabbed Itachi's ankle squeezing on it tightly, the damaged muscle from Kabuto's attack burning as he did so. "For God's sake, Itachi, turn around and go back to Sasuke. He's only saying all of this because of what his peers think of his behavior. If you leave him, you're going to kill him. Take off that robe, take off that forehead protector and please reconsider what you're going to him. You're only going to hurt him if you do this."

Itachi closed his eyes, he hated to admit it, but Kakashi was right, he was only going to kill Sasuke if he continued with what he was doing. Sasuke was confused, just like he was with Shisui when he was twelve. Only this was going to be different, Itachi wasn't going to turn his back; he was going to be there. No one was going to go through the pain that he did when he was with Shisui, no human deserved that.

Itachi looked down at him. "If he gets hurt, it's on your conscience now. I tried to save him from this dark fate. If anything happens to Sasuke, I'm going to come back to you and I'll destroy you. For now, I have to go," he continued walking forward. "I have to see a man about a young girl that I have to kill."

"Itachi," Kakashi continued. "Don't do this, you could be killed by whoever has Sakura, he's not going to let you off easily. Just turn around and go back to Sasuke before I have to take desperate measures."

"Desperate measures?" he felt a sharp pain fill his arm, a senbon lodged within the skin, stinging sensations surrounding the wounded area. His vision was clouding as he tried to look over at Kakashi. "You son of a bitch…" he fell to his knees. "What did you do to me?"

"That's strong venom that will temporarily knock you out," Kakashi grinned beneath the mask looking down at him in a mocking tone. "You won't be able to resist my remarks. I'm going to take you with me."

Itachi shook his head trying to clear his vision. "What are you going to do to me? Rape me? Is that part of your great plan?"

Kakashi knelt down next to him. "I'm going to take you away from here; I'm going to take you some place where you're going to see what you're doing wrong. You have to stop thinking about yourself and start understanding that you're the only hope to some people."

Itachi coughed lightly, his grip on his arm starting to loosen as he looked over at the jounin, his breath becoming heavy, his body falling forward onto his. He was losing control of consciousness; Kakashi had outsmarted him this time. He should have been able to see that needle coming. He wasn't focusing the way that he should.

Kakashi held onto him. "I'm going to bring you somewhere where you could think all of the time, a place where you once thought that everything was going to end. A place where it could all end…"

He stood up holding onto Itachi tightly, moving forward, away from the destination where the he was going. He had to make sure that his student's life was the most important item on his agenda. Sasuke spoke of love when he was in the hospital room talking to him; he wasn't going to allow Sasuke to lose that feeling because of a teenage testosterone fit that Itachi was having.

_Please don't let Sasuke be like this when he's seventeen, I don't think I could handle a second Itachi, _he sighed as he kept walking forward looking down at the shivering body of the teenage S-class criminal. He wasn't as tough as he thought that he was. This was simple.

-----

Sasuke poured more liquid into his glass as he looked through the books that Itachi had left behind. Whether Itachi was coming back or not he was going to continue what he started, he was going to get stronger the way that his brother would have wanted him to. With the help of the alcohol that Itachi had left behind he was starting to understand what the books were saying.

He took another sip from the glass almost gagging on the taste of the liquor. _How the hell did he drink this stuff? It's disgusting; _he turned the page looking at the splashes of blood on a few of the pages.

Itachi was really intense about it; he could feel the frustration that he must have felt as he tried to find his way out of a corner every single time. Itachi only wanted to learn this to help Sasuke's survival rate go up on every mission that they went on. He was only trying to look out for him.

"_What do you want out of life? Is this was you want? You want me to leave you so the village will be proud of you and you'll get a nice big pat on the head? You're a pathetic person, Sasuke, if you want to be a lackey to Konoha, then be my guest. I wasted enough time on you. If it weren't for you, I would have finished this mission before Kabuto came."_

He closed his eyes tightly as he thought back to when Itachi left him. Sasuke was wrong to think that he was the cause of everything that was going on. If it wasn't for him he wouldn't even be here right now. He was only in the way the last time that they were in a battle together; he was the reason why Itachi had to take on both Sakura and Kabuto, the reason why he was so exhausted afterward. Yet after that Itachi never looked at him different. The only disappointment was because he had shut him out.

" _People are all the same, everyone's the same. I was an idiot to think otherwise."_

He had to keep trying, one day they would find him, to show him that he was an outstanding ninja. It was going to be difficult and lonely with him gone. He wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight, not after over a month of having him by his side. Itachi had unlocked a strength that he thought he would never be able to come up with. He wasn't sure he could do it without him.

His eyes looked over at the window; there was nothing but silence now, nothing but the regret. He hadn't even been gone for more than three hours and already Sasuke was going out of his mind. He should have kept his mouth shut; he should have just continued being with him not caring what the village had said to him. He was an idiot.

"Itachi," he breathed looking over at the dagger that was resting on his pillow. Itachi was going to come back, he was hopeful for that. Itachi got like this from time to time. The day that Asuma Sarutobi came to mind, he came back to him. He wouldn't leave him alone like this.

He took another sip of the alcohol; Itachi said that it made all of his pain go away, it made life seem easier to live. Also it was Itachi's alcohol; his lips had touched the top of this bottle, the closest that Sasuke would ever get to those lips in a long time. He had no right to say those words to him, not even after all that he heard Sakura and the rest of Konoha say.

"_Then why do you love him? If he treats you so badly, then why do you bother with him? Why do you go to him for comfort? What is the point of this pain that you're causing yourself?"_

Why did he even listen to her? What was she to him now? She was the reason that there was a blade run through his chest, the reason that tears fell from Itachi's eyes. Sakura had done nothing but destroy Itachi, yet Sasuke found it necessary to chase him away because of what she said.

He slammed the book shut as he got out of his bed, placing the bottle of alcohol to the ground. He made a mistake doing that, now it was time to correct it. He was going to have to fight the source, the reason why this all was happening, he was going to have to find Sakura. He was going to have to do what Itachi had always wanted him to; he was going to have to kill her for what she did.

"Sakura," he breathed grasping the blade in his hand placing it back in its sheath. It was the only way that his soul would be able to be at rest, if he was able to kill Sakura. This time there would be no Itachi to stop him. It was going to be all up to him. His choice and he chose death.

It was too late; he had already ruined all of his life, he had already broken his heart. All of his dreams were in tatters, he had let all of them go to accommodate his growing feelings for Itachi; he was starting to cope with the loss, his masochism getting the better of him. Now he was overcome by sadism, Sakura was going to die by his hand; she was going to pay for what she had done to him.

He walked out of the entrance of the house looking straight into the distance, the wind blowing gently in his face, he was going to understand that everything that Itachi had already done was worth it, even if they never met again, everything was going to be worth it. There was no way that it was going to be wasted not after all of the weeks that he had lived in this pain. Nothing was in his way anymore, nothing mattered.

_Itachi, I made a mistake, but I swear, I won't make the same mistake again, _he looked back at the place that he was leaving behind. _Even if I don't come back, I'm always going to be part of you, because that's what brothers are, Itachi. That's what I am to you, even if you hate it._

-----

He groaned as he opened his eyes, his body feeling completely numb, not even able to move. His vision was blurred, swirls of color dancing in front of them as he looked straight at the person who was next to him. Where did that bastard take him? The last thing he remembered was taking a senbon to the arm.

"You're awake," Kakashi beamed looking forward into the horizon. "I thought that you were dead for a second. You've been out cold for two hours. I was starting to think that I gave you the wrong poison," he glanced down at him. "How do you feel? Are you still going to leave?"

Itachi tried to rise from his position; he was laying face up on the riverbank looking up at the cloudy sky. He never thought that Kakashi was capable of such a heartless act, injecting him with a dangerous poison that could have destroyed his heart muscles. It was after all a paralysis poison.

"What are you trying to do?" Itachi asked taking a deep breath. "There are missions that I need to accomplish, you know. I have goal, I have a dream, and sitting here down by the river isn't going to help."

Kakashi snickered. "You came down here with Shisui all of the time. You never bitched at him as much as you do around me. I know for a fact that it always made you feel better to talk to other people."

"Yeah, it's great to talk to people, until they have a dagger in your shoulder saying that they're going to kill you unless you do it first," Itachi scoffed looking away from him trying to block out the pain that his body was in. "Don't talk about him, Kakashi, you don't know why he came closer to me."

The jounin sighed. "Was he the one who taught you not to trust people? Because you loved him and all he saw in you toward the end of his life was another gate that he had to open to get power?" he looked down at the water. "Itachi, there are people in this world who aren't like that. Sasuke's not like that."

Itachi sighed. "I know…" he struggled to sit up, yelping lightly at the pain. "Sasuke's a lot like you, and he's a lot like Shisui, that makes me uneasy, that makes me believe that he's going to form into you two. I'm trying to liberate him, but he's going in more of a Shisui direction. There was no way that I could save that bastard before he went down."

Kakashi touched Itachi's hand lightly. "Do you have intentions of going back to him? Do you have intentions of going back to Sasuke to save him? Or are you just going to continue to act like an idiot and sacrifice your life for all of the wrong reasons?"

"I intend to go back. I have to. There's a man that's after him, a man who wants him as his own. One of the legendary sannin: Orochimaru. He's after Sasuke's body as his next host for his immortality technique," he looked over at Kakashi. "He wants the sharingan, he wants that power in his hands," Itachi closed his eyes struggling to take a breath as the poison was starting to give way. "I was the original sharingan body of his desire, but I grew too strong. If I train Sasuke to be like me then he too will be too strong for that man, and then I win."

Kakashi looked down into the water. "Damn Orochimaru."

"He's not a threat, some Sannin he is, I can beat him with no trouble at all," Itachi looked over at Kakashi. "He's scared of me. That's why I'm here. That's why I was the one that they got rid of. That's why I'm going to be the one to destroy Akatsuki and the Sound Village; no one messes with me and gets away with it. They're going to pay."

"So much hatred," Kakashi sighed as he closed his eyes. _His soul is already too deep into the darkness, even after I thought Sasuke could get him out of it. They made a mistake when they got rid of him. He'll kill them._

Itachi finally managed to move from his stiffened position on the ground as he looked into the water of the Nakano River. He shivered slightly, the ache becoming greater, the arm where the senbon hit lacking all feeling that it once had contained. His black eyes gazed into the dark murky water, a sigh passing his lips.

"Kakashi," Itachi breathed. "I know why you're doing this…"

"Hmmm?" Kakashi asked looking over at the teenager.

"You did this to show me that you care about me, you're treating me like a child again. I don't know whether to feel belittled or to feel relieved. All I know is that you brought me out here to get some more information about Akatsuki," a smirk graced his lips as he looked over at the Konoha jounin. "I'll give you any piece that you want. Their deaths don't need to be at my hand, I just have to be the one who made it all happen. Think of it as a parting gift to a few good friends."

Kakashi took a deep breath as he moved his arm wrapping it around the younger ninja's shoulder's gently. "Itachi, I don't want to see you get hurt in this either, the last thing that I want is for you to die because of that organization."

Itachi moved closer to the jounin as he felt the pain start to melt away from his body. Kakashi was doing to him again, he was trying to take all of the pain that he had held so close in his heart and break it into small pieces. It was ironic how every person he had been around would have turned on him except for the one that he had given the reputation to. The warmth that was in his body as he moved closer still allowed a sigh to pass through his lips, his cheek resting up against his shoulder.

"Itachi Uchiha," Kakashi sighed. "There is a reason why I didn't want to hurt you in that hospital room until you insisted that I did. I didn't want to screw you up more, I know what you've been through and I know it was tough. It doesn't justify anything, but it shows that you are not mentally well. I wanted to see you finally do something about that Goddamn organization; you're the only one who can stop them. You're the only one who knows how they operate."

Itachi snickered, moving closer to Kakashi. "You do want information."

"I want you to go back to Sasuke," the older ninja stated. "It pains me to say this, but Sasuke needs you. He's going through some issues right now," he coughed lightly, Itachi backed away.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked as he looked into the jounin's eye. "What's going on with you?"

"Your damn genjutsu, that's what's wrong with me," he looked into Itachi's eyes as the younger ninja laid him on his back. "Itachi? What are you?"

"I seemed to have disturbed a lot of the muscles around your heart and lungs, it's upsetting your vitals," Itachi pressed his hands up against Kakashi's chest as he closed his eyes tightly. "Kakashi, I'm going to try to undo some of what I did to you. I could use the practice with this technique."

Kakashi looked up at the shaking teenager. "So I'm just your guinea pig? There's the Itachi that I know, the same ass who has no respect for the human body whatsoever. I was wondering when we were going to meet again," he looked at the hands. "So what technique is this?"

The glow of Itachi's hands filled the area around them as the user was taking short breaths through his mouth, panting lightly. Kakashi could just sit in awe looking at what Itachi was doing to him; he was trying to fix what he had done. He had learned a jutsu that most people can only dream of, all of this time when Itachi was by himself, this is what he was working on: Mystical Palms. That jutsu alone showed that he had changed, he was no longer the arrogant boy in the Akatsuki robe, the one that he faced when Sasuke was in the hospital. Nor was he that cocky emotional wreck the second time they met in the hospital, he was finally a ninja to be proud of.

Kakashi took a deep breath as he watched the glow start to fade, his eye closing slightly as he felt the hands start to move away from his chest, his eyes reopening catching a glimpse of Kakashi's as he quickly adverted his glance.

"Itachi, when did you?" Kakaski looked at Itachi's hands. "When did you learn Mystical Palms?"

"Just recently, I perfected it yesterday," Itachi looked back into the water. "I did that because I need to keep you alive for when Sasuke needs a sensei after I'm gone. Besides, you're the one who can help me destroy the Akatsuki, you can get the whole village of Konoha to make sure that they never get in here. I also feel as though killing you isn't quite on the agenda yet."

"When will it be?" Kakashi asked, looking at the younger ninja.

Itachi shrugged. "I don't choose when it comes time to kill you, you get to choose that. You've been well behaved, Kakashi. You've been playing a backseat role this whole time," he nodded shakily. "Thank you for that," he stood up looking down at him. "I'm going to be off now, I have to make sure that kid hasn't done anything reckless," he looked back at the sitting ninja. "Goodbye," he started to walk away from the jounin not acknowledging him. "Kakashi."

"Yeah?" Kakashi asked, looking at him, his voice not much above a relaxed tone. "What is it Itachi?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Don't think this changes anything, I'm never going to forgive you, I'm never going to forget. I'm always going to remember what you did, and no matter how much you want me to just pretend like it never happened, I can't live like that."

Kakashi watched as he disappeared into the darkness of the setting sun. _I guess he'll never change completely. Then again, that wouldn't be very like him at all. Itachi is always going to hate, but now he's incorporated more into his being, he now knows how to love. That kid's starting to become a better ninja, criminal or not._

-----

Sasuke walked through the pass where he and Itachi had followed Kabuto and Sakura before. He picked up the speed as he scanned the area for any traces of the two medical ninja. They were going to pay for what they did to them, they made them look like beginners, they made Itachi lose all of the dignity that he had held so dear to his being. There were only a few more steps until the edge of Konoha.

As he ran he looked to his side seeing a familiar figure pass him by not paying attention to him, the terrifying red clouds on the dark black robe drilling holes through his sanity. It was him; he didn't leave the village after all.

"Itachi?" he asked as he looked over at him. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

Itachi still ignored his presence. "Only a few hours."

Sasuke watched as he continued to walk in the opposite direction than him clenching his fists tightly. "Itachi, wait!" he looked over his shoulder at his brother. "I know that I was out of line this morning. I shouldn't have said all of the things that I said. I should have thought before I wanted to hurt everything that you tried to create for so long. I didn't want to sound ungrateful. I can't live without you."

Itachi scoffed as he kept walking. "Sasuke," he glanced over his shoulder, "you wouldn't have hurt me so determinedly if you couldn't live without me."

Sasuke shook his head. "Will you listen to me?"

"Why?" Itachi asked in a condescending tone. "Sasuke, I know that you were using me to begin with, and I was fine with that. But now when we were so close to winning this together, when I was so close to fulfilling your purpose, you chose to tell me that you were…"

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. "You know that I would never hurt you like that on purpose. I would never want to drive you to do anything on your own. I know that the path that you chose is a dangerous one…"

Itachi looked back at him. "Sasuke, I know that you care, I know I've made mistakes, but when you see me stabbed in the chest, you tell me how you feel afterward knowing that it was your fault. I just wanted to make sure that you were still with me," he turned away. "You were…"

Sasuke watched as he continued to walk away. "Itachi…"

He felt a heavy pain in his soul as he watched that man walk away again, this time he could have stopped him. He was trying to raise his voice to ask him to turn back and come to him, but it only wounded him more. Could he disappoint his brother like that? Would he allow himself to be the one who destroyed everything?

"Are you coming or not?" Itachi asked, looking back at him. "We've got a lot of training to do. I see that you were going to go after him. In your current condition, Kabuto would obliterate," he smirked lightly. "That's why we're going to beat them at their own game."

Sasuke beamed. "You mean you're coming back already?"

"We had a disagreement, I'm not going to let that bring me down," he looked back. "That is if you won't let it get you down. This is after all your choice. Your life, your choice, I'm not into forcing you to do anything anymore."

Sasuke's eyes lit up as he walked toward him. "Depends, are you going to teach me how to fully master that clone technique?"

"Always my clones," Itachi breathed. "Yes, I'll show you the clone technique, that's an important one, there's no telling when you'll need that. However, I'm going to teach you the most important technique when fighting a medical ninja: Mystical Palms."

"Only two days ago you didn't even know how to harness that technique yourself," Sasuke taunted. "And now you think you can teach me? I'm not like you; things don't come easily to me."

"I understand that, but I know that you are only a half decent ninja, but you are decent," Itachi continued walking on. "There's no way that I'm going to throw you into a full scale battle with such little experience."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as he let a smile roll across his lips. _I knew you wouldn't be gone for too long; after all, you're the one who needs me more than I need you, Itachi._

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that this chapter was bad (wasn't too proud with it myself) but I had to do something for it. I also want everyone to know that the next chapters are also fillers (I hope that doesn't upset anyone). As for the questions about the KakaIta, the answers will come soon, please don't yell at me, I'm trying the best I can. I also want to apologize to eveyone who is disgusted by my story, I'm sorry that you all feel that way. So on a lighter not, what did you all think? Good? Bad? Give up on this piece of shit? Honesty is always good. 


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own anything

**Warnings: **This chapter contains blood/violence, yaoi, incest, coarse language, thoughts of death, OOC, and the canon is no longer with us. This chapter is also long and there might be some errors here or there. Hope you enjoy.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight KabuSaku

* * *

Naruto looked out the window, his eyes still swollen from all of the tears. It had been a while since the two of them were gone, too long for him to even think about what was occurring. Sasuke and Sakura might have been strong, but they would be nothing if they were out there too long, they would be dead. 

He was more concerned about Sasuke, all of the feelings that he had once had for Sakura detaching slowly. He was finally giving into the fact that he would never have her no matter how he tried. Sasuke however was still able to be saved from the vile darkness; he still needed Naruto more than anything in a time like this. Sasuke had a lot to sort out, he had been through a lot, he could tell by the various love bites that were on his neck and legs. Sasuke was having a secret life behind everyone's back, and Naruto knew what it was: it was Itachi.

Looking around he saw the three sleeping figures of Team 10 on the ground, they hadn't left him since they left the hospital. Shikamaru talked to him, Chouji would run errands for him, and Ino would cook as well as start to clean up around his house. They were the best friends that he could ever ask for at a time like this, even if they never got along that well before.

"Are you alright?" Shikamaru asked rising from the floor, looking through the darkness to see Naruto sitting up in bed looking desperately out into the window. He could see the formation of tears in blue eyes as he moved out of his spot in between Ino and Chouji. "It's late you should get some sleep."

Naruto looked down at him. "There's something going on right now, why hasn't he called me? Is he dead?" he closed his eyes his body starting to shake through sobs. "I don't know what I'd do if he was in that much trouble again…"

Shikamaru sighed. "That bastard has no right putting you through all of this, he has no right to make you worry," he moved closer to the bed looking at the sobbing boy. "He's going to be alright, Naruto," he placed a hand on his shoulder looking into his eyes. "I promise that he's going to be alright."

"I just feel…" he took a deep breath. "I feel as though he's in trouble, I feel like he's in pain right now and all I can do is sit here and let it all happen," he looked toward the door allowing his eyes to widen in shock as he was laid back onto the bed.

"Sasuke's going to be fine, I guarantee it," Shikamaru answered. "He's probably sleeping right now, relaxing." He looked straight out the window taking a deep breath. _How can I be calm about this? Knowing Sasuke Uchiha, he's probably doing something really stupid. Sasuke, please don't hurt Naruto like that. Don't get yourself killed._

-----

"Do it again," Itachi breathed as he sat in the chair in the corner of the large empty room. A bottle of alcohol was situated in his hand. "I can tell that you're almost there, you just have to work harder."

"Easy for you to say," Sasuke answered, looking down at the ground. "You mastered this technique in only a few weeks, I'm not as skilled as you are, Itachi," he took a deep breath. "This is hard to focus on."

Sweat rolled down his forehead as he pressed his hands up against the ground, closing his eyes tightly as he tired to focus his chakra into his fingertips. His breathing sped up as he pushed more chakra into it. Itachi had taken the time to allow him to peruse through the books, constantly allowing him to have a few sips of alcohol. He said that there was no way in Hell Sasuke was going to be able to do it without it.

He sighed as the flow stopped. "Damn it!" he looked over at Itachi who was continuing to drink not looking back at him. "I'm never going to be able to do this. Can't you teach me water techniques or help me improve my sharingan? Why medical ninjutsu? This is a pain in the ass."

Itachi snickered as he handed him the bottle of alcohol. "Here you go. You need it more than I do right now." Sasuke took the bottle. "How do you get all of this anyway?"

The older Uchiha smirked. "I have my ways of getting what I want, you know that," he continued looking down at the black satin. "Sasuke, how do you think that I got you on my side? Do you think that I deserved this, or do you think I cheated to get you where I wanted you?" he glanced up. "After what you did in the woods I don't know if I deserve you. People don't usually risk their lives for me."

"You're my brother," Sasuke breathed, pressing the bottle to his lips taking a long drink of it, swallowing the burning liquid quickly and greedily, handing the bottle back to Itachi with a look of disgust, a small cough escaping his lips. "Did you think I was going to let her kill you?"

"It was a possibility," Itachi answered taking the liquid in his hand, taking a quick sip. "I haven't exactly been a saint to you. I've actually been a jerk, I know that, but you have to bear with me. You didn't have to save me; I would have been alright if you let me die."

The younger Uchiha flipped through the book looking straight through the pages of the text. It was almost unreadable, the splashes of Itachi's blood staining the page. He experimented on himself as soon as he got to that stage. The pain that must have gone into the process made him wonder: why Itachi would do that to himself? Itachi wasn't the type to want to learn every single technique; he only wanted to learn the ones that would only serve him in his plan. Thank God that he learned this one as fast as he did, otherwise Sasuke would have died.

"Need some help?" Itachi asked with a small smirk. "I could always show you how I do it, and then you can copy it," he placed the bottle to the side looking down at his younger brother. "Put your sharingan up. We're going to do this the Uchiha way."

Sasuke closed his eyes opening to expose his red irises, looking straight at his brother who was resting his hands on his leg, his eyes glancing down at them. Together, they glanced at what was happening. His hands started to glow, Sasuke's eyes tracking the flow of chakra, memorizing the way to formulate the technique. Itachi continued to pour the energy into his leg, allowing Sasuke to continue his memorization. It would take a while, the child was still growing accustomed to his eyes. He wasn't like Itachi.

"Can you see it?" Itachi asked, looking into his eyes. "If you can, then you then copy what I do, and use it as your own. If you want to surpass me, you have to understand what level I'm at. I do have some techniques that you can't do, in case you do turn on me."

Sasuke kept looking at Itachi's hands watching the flow of chakra that was going through his fingers, ignoring the words that he was saying. Itachi never did trust people, even when they were growing up, he was always wary about them. He trusted Sasuke the most out of all of mankind, thinking that people were just there to bring him down. It made Sasuke glad when they were younger, but now that they were in this situation it made him feel skeptical.

"You know why I want you to learn this right?" Itachi asked, looking down at his hands. "Because there will be a time when you are going to have to use this, there are always needs for people who can perform Mystical Palms. The final battle is close at hand and if we do get separated I want you to be able to tend to your own wounds," he took his hands away as he stood up. "I'm not always going to be there to save you nor are you going to be there to save me."

Sasuke looked at the bloodied pages. "Itachi," he adverted his eyes to look at his brother. "Maybe we've been trying to defeat Kabuto wrong, maybe there's another way, maybe we could save Naruto from him in a different manner than the one that we've been trying to do. There has to be another way."

The older of the two looked over at the younger. "There is no other way," he turned taking a step forward. "Kabuto gets more out of this if I die. Sasuke, there's something going on in the Sound Village that involves you, and it's my fault."

"What did you do?" Sasuke asked, looking over at him.

"I made them target you," Itachi sighed. "My growing power made you the new host, the one that Orochimaru wants more than anything. To use his immortality technique, he wants to combine his spirit with your body, connecting the two until he switches again. He hasn't put any seals on you yet, so I'm still not out of luck. I can still make you too strong for him. I can save you from that fate."

Sasuke shivered. "So I have some geezer running after me, tracking me, wanting my body? And I thought you stalking me was bad enough," he looked back at the book closing his eyes. "So that's why you've been trying your hardest to beat Kabuto, you don't want to lose me to that man."

"If you did that, Sasuke," Itachi breathed closing his eyes tighter still. "You would kill me. I know that's what you want, but do you want to make us extinct? I didn't kill the whole clan except you to destroy your own life. You're supposed to be the one who lived," he moved back to his seat. "Sasuke, there are some acts in this world that you shouldn't commit. If I'm still alive and I even hear an utter of one syllable that you are going to seek power from that man I will destroy you, I don't care how much I love you, I won't let you go off with a man like that."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly looking down at the book and then mustering the strength to look at his brother. "This Orochimaru, he wanted you to be his new body. When was this? When did this guy want to take you away from me?"  
Itachi closed his eyes. "When I was around your age, the reason why he left the Akatsuki was because I was too strong for him. That's when the Sound Village came into play, that's when they started looking for you. Kabuto is coming to kill both of us, so I can't do anything against the Akatsuki and you can't do anything for the Sound Village. His loyalties were always an enigma; I don't know who he's trying to help here."

Sasuke shook his head. "This is the guy that Sakura was captured by?"

"She went of her own will," Itachi answered sternly. "That makes it even more difficult to break them apart from one another. If force is the only way to get her away, then so it is, even if that force requires her death," he took a deep breath. "Even if it does hurt you, there is nothing that I can do to save her; she's too far gone for you to get her back. And if she takes Naruto…"

Sasuke closed his eyes tighter still. "She wouldn't do that to us," he shook his head. "Why don't you trust people, Itachi? Can't you understand in the thick head of yours that she doesn't want to hurt anyone?"

Itachi licked his lips as he chuckled, his eyes burning with malice. "Doesn't want to hurt anyone, you say? Sasuke, if this girl doesn't want to hurt anyone, explain to me why I had to spend twenty minutes running my chakra through you, why I had to pull Shisui's dagger out of your chest," he grasped the bottle again looking down at it, trying to level his anger, but it was difficult when Sasuke was saying such things. "Sakura is going to wind up just like Kabuto the next time, she's going to understand what it means to work on the dark side, and there will be no saving her. Once you're in the darkness you will always be there…"

Sasuke turned the page, his voice quiet. "What about you, Itachi? Are you still in the darkness? I never saw anyone fall that fast before in my life, one moment you were smiling telling me what an older brother is, the next there are strange guys at our door telling us that Shisui had killed himself. Is that evil still within you?"

"That _evil _is the reason why I'm still alive, Sasuke," Itachi hissed. "And that _evil_ is the one that saved you from Kabuto. I will always be in the darkness; I've always been in the darkness, the light never touching me, no matter how I begged that it would. The second that Shisui drove me to take on this curse, the thirst has been coursing through my body. Now it's drawn to the Akatsuki, one by one all of them will fall."

Sasuke pressed his hand to his own thigh not looking at Itachi. "I'm going to make all of this right; I'm not going to make the same mistakes that you did. If I do obtain the power that you have, I won't give into the hunger, the blood thirst. I will continue to live my own life," he closed his eyes. "I'll start to become great by mastering this jutsu."

Itachi watched him closely as he took another long sip of alcohol. Sasuke was a good disciple; he had enough tolerance to deal with all of Itachi's flaws including the lust to go after someone that Sasuke had once called a teammate. He was starting to see that there was another way to look at the emotional wreck that was once named Itachi; he was more than just broken tatters.

The sheer determination of the young boy made Itachi smile in delight, he was going to be stronger than Orochimaru in no time at all. With this child he was going to get the strength that he needed. In that child was his future, the one to continue his legacy after he was gone.

Sasuke had already come a long way since the day that they met, using the amount of force that he did might not have been the worst plan that he had ever thought of. It didn't chase him away, Sasuke's masochism and hunger for attention brought him back. It made their bond that much stronger. This was a bond that could not be broken no matter what obstacles were in their way. The bondage of blood was always going to be thick.

"This is too difficult," Sasuke hissed as he looked at the bruised flesh of his leg. "I'm only destroying the tissue, I'm not mending anything," he took a deep breath wincing in pain as he looked back at Itachi. "You have more patience than I do, how did you even think about doing this? I copied the flow of chakra, but then whenever I try to do it, everything's fucked up!"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Itachi asked calmly. "Swearing is bad, Sasuke, it's only going to raise your blood pressure and make everything worse," he stated with a smile on his face. "Do you hear me saying things like that?"

Sasuke scoffed. "I've heard you slip a few times, like that time in the woods up against Kabuto, I got you to say fuck."

"_I wouldn't sacrifice myself for any of those fucking bastards that we called part of our clan…"_

"That was a different situation," Itachi muttered. "Sometimes there are times when some principles are broken. You thought that I didn't care about you for so long, but if I didn't care, why would I still be here?" he closed his eyes. "At that moment I didn't just see everything I worked for die, I saw something greater happening. Sasuke, it proved that I'm going to have to work that much harder to get every one of the precautions ready," he looked down at the young boy. "Kabuto could come after Naruto any minute, and I have to come up with a way that we're going to operate about this. I can't improvise anymore, not with that girl by his side."

"Sakura isn't a threat," Sasuke argued. "So stop thinking of ways to kill her. I don't like seeing you like this; I don't enjoy watching you destroy the lives of other people. Did you forget that your body is starting to give out on you? Brother, your bones are starting to dig into your lungs to the point where you can hardly breathe. You're dying."  
Itachi looked down at the alcohol bottle. "I'm trying…" he took a deep breath. "I'm trying to make this work out as much as possible," he glanced at his ring. "There are some things that I have to take care of first and in my mind that's whatever Orochimaru is trying to do to you. Then will the Akatsuki will come. Sasuke, I will never risk your life like that; this victory isn't worth that loss."

Sasuke looked at the book as he heard his brother stand up again. This wasn't another test for Itachi; this wasn't one of his sick games. This was the real thing. Every uttering of endearment that he heard roll of those lip, it was all real. Every time he broke out of his stoic trance, it wasn't just an act. That was the real Itachi. That was his brother that he had been trying to kill for so long.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked his voice low. "If I do master this …" he took a deep breath closing his eyes tightly, his hands curling into fists on the pages of the book. "Will you allow me to take all of your pain away? Will you allow me to heal you? I don't want to see you like this anymore."

Itachi stopped in the doorway taking a deep breath. "Sasuke… none of that concerns you…"

"It hurts more than that fucking blade did! I thought I knew you like the back of my hand, but I don't know you. I never knew you," he started to stand up, looking back at him. "I thought I wanted to kill you because I had you all figured out, but I was wrong. I was an idiot to think I knew…"

There was a slight silence as the rain hit up against the window, this first sounding of thunder running through their ears. Itachi coughed lightly before turning to face Sasuke wiping the blood away with the back of his hand. He tried to conceal the pain, but every time it only failed him more. He could see the tears starting to form in Sasuke's eyes, both of them had reached their emotional limits, breaking them as the tears continued to fall from both of their eyes.

"Sasuke," Itachi sighed. "You can take a break from your work, you should get some sleep. I don't want you to wear yourself out before we face Kabuto," he watched as Sasuke fell back down to his knees, flipping through the pages of the book, disobeying him. "Sasuke…"

"If I learn this technique will you let me heal you?" Sasuke asked, his dark eyes looking up from the book. He was determined; he was actually going to work for hours to perfect everything that he had learned so far. He was growing up, maturing from the young boy who only wanted power to destroy. He was starting to understand that a ninja was more than a warrior, it was an art, and art could go either way.

Itachi sighed as a smirk came to his lips. "I don't know, the last time you tried to master a technique you were knocked out cold by Orochimaru's right hand man," he looked down at the studying young boy. "I'll let you continue so long as you aren't going to hurt yourself over this. My health isn't as important as yours; I can take pain better than you can."  
Sasuke looked down at the book reading through the formulas that were written in the book, working harder than he ever had before in his life. He was unleashing the potential that Itachi always wanted, living his dream, making everything start to come true. It was starting to work; it was starting to tilt in their favor.

"_You're scared that you're going to lose him. You fear that you don't have enough power to save him, or that you have too much power that you won't even care."_

Itachi walked out of the room walking through the walkway, the rain falling off of the edge. It had been a long time since he felt like this, a long time since he knew that everything was going to be alright. There was no telling what the future brought, it scared him a little. He had to put all of the faith that he could into himself.

_Everything is going to burn right before their eyes; nothing is going to be left for them. I'm going to destroy their purpose, if they even think about fighting back, I'll kill every last one! _He looked back at the doorway. _And it's all thanks to you; I knew that I made the right choice when I left you alive…_

-----

"Do you ever think that you made a mistake in doing that?" Kabuto asked looking over at Sakura who was lying on the bed next to his. They had checked into a local hotel in hopes that they would get Itachi off of their trail.

The fear that he had put into their hearts was burning harder than they ever thought it would. The last words that he had said to them running through their heads over and over. He said that he was going to kill them both the next time that they met up with one another. Itachi wasn't he one to lie when he put a hit on someone like that. Their fate was sealed the second that Sakura ran that blade through Sasuke's chest.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, looking over at him. "I did what I had to do, I wanted to kill him and save Naruto. Those were my intentions. If Sasuke hadn't jumped in the way we wouldn't have had to retreat. Itachi only got upset because we spilled blood," she snickered lightly looking over at him. "The next time we meet it's going to be _interesting_."

"Sakura," Kabuto started with a look of disgust on his face. "I never told you to do that, but I played along with it. For future reference, always make sure that the two of them are separated when you try to take one of them on. And make sure to take Itachi out first. I know that his strength surpasses that of Sasuke, but once he's gone, Sasuke won't be able to do anything."

She stood up looking out the window at the falling rain. "When do I get to save Naruto during this plan? Am I ever going to get the pleasure of totally foiling their plans right in front of them?" she took a deep breath, her green eyes narrowing dramatically. "Ever since the day when I saw Sasuke down by the river as that bloody mess, all I could think of was the day when I would make that man pay for all that he has done to us."

Kabuto sighed. "You leave Itachi to me. He's too strong for you; if you even step into the same area as him you're going to die, Sakura. He was part of the Akatsuki, and a sick sadist as well; he would get a high from killing you. I don't want to give him that pleasure. He might enjoy it too much…" he chuckled. "Then again, he does have a guilt complex. He feels as though he has to be punished for what he did to his clan, the pain of knowing that he took them all out is too heavy for him to handle. He's such a coward on the inside, it makes me smile…"

Sakura looked back at him. "Is there any way that we can get Sasuke away from him? Kabuto, don't you understand what Sasuke means to me, even though he's with his brother, I still love him, and I will never stop loving him even if he never acknowledges me. Even if he will always love Itachi more than he will ever love me."

The older medical ninja looked out the window over her shoulder. "Itachi is a magnetic person. He can provide for Sasuke things that you don't even understand. There's nothing that you can do about it, he will always be attracted to that power that Itachi has, it's hypnotic," Kabuto chuckled as he took off his glasses. "Sakura, there is no way that you'll beat him in his game; he won't let you do that. He's done playing nice with Konoha; he's starting to fight back."

"Let him," Sakura breathed. "You almost had him last time. If he didn't learn Mystical Palms so quickly maybe we would have won that round. Now we have another ninja with medical ninja capabilities on our hands. Can you take him out?"

Kabuto shrugged his shoulders. "There's nothing that I can say for sure. Itachi Uchiha is one of those characters that can never be predetermined. Out of all of the Akatsuki, we had to face the one with a kekkei genkai of that level," he took a deep breath. "We'll have to carry this out as quickly and quietly as possible, but in the meantime, we're going to have to teach you better medical ninjutsu. It does more than help people, it can hurt them too."

"But does it kill?" Sakura asked, looking back at him with a distant look in her eyes. "Is there anyway that if I do use medical ninjutsu that I can destroy Itachi for what he's done?"

"Only if you're fast," he answered with a smile, standing up. "The sharingan can copy a technique quickly, but you can't give him enough time to try to use it against you. It's true that medical ninjutsu is a difficult kind of technique to master, but once Mystical Palms is learned all other medical ninjutsu is at an easier level. There's only a matter of time before he figures out how to perform all of it. He has a lot of access to information that could prove to be dangerous. And all genjutsu is useless up against him as well. You have to rely on ninjutsu and taijutsu to even get close to him."

She closed her eyes pressing her hand up against the window. "How long do I have until I can no longer get Sasuke out of there? How much time do we have left before the end of it all? If I lose Sasuke, I will be forced to kill you, Kabuto. There will be no more hope left for you, you won't even have a prayer to save you. If Itachi doesn't get to you, I will."

Kabuto's eyes widened as he heard the words that she just said. _There's something within this girl that I never thought that I would see in a girl of her level. She's going to extremes to save the ones that she cares about, but there's enough hatred toward Itachi to make her want to take him head on. Maybe this girl is something different from the rest; maybe I finally can destroy Itachi. Everything is in my favor, that fox will be as good as dead. Itachi is going to struggle one last time and I get the pleasure of seeing him writhe._

-----

Itachi continued to walk down the walkway, looking at the rain continuing to fall from the dark sky. The time was drawing nearer, he could tell with every second that passed. The Akatsuki was going to come after the fox; they wouldn't even acknowledge how much work he had accomplished to destroy them. It wasn't a waste though, something would come out of it victory or not.

He took a short sip of the alcohol that was in his hand, he never put it down these days. There were times when he was young when he would drink until he threw up, until the point when he could barely control his emotions. He had a difficult time living his life the way that he had, the pain was greater than anything that he had ever hoped to go through. Everywhere he turned it was another dead end.

The harder he worked, the more he thought about all of the pain that he had caused himself. He didn't want that for Sasuke, but there was no avoiding it now. There was no other way but to take Naruto's life. Yet there had to be something that he could have done to break out of his void that he was constantly falling in. He was starting to become his own worst enemy.

"Damn it," he breathed, hearing the thunder roll through the air, the rain starting to fall harder. He couldn't even think about what to do next. The only thing on his mind was the death of that girl, there was nothing that could be done to save her life. Nothing that anyone could do could stop him from fulfilling that task. He saw the look in her eyes.

"The same eyes as me, the same eyes as Sasuke, eyes filled with hatred and murderous intent," he took a deep breath. "What that bastard strives for. She could become his next host, that is if the curse seal is able to manifest without taking her life," he took a deep breath. "That could be the container that he has been looking for this whole time, and Kabuto is going to hand deliver it to him."

Orochimaru was always going to get what he wanted; he knew that the day when they told him to run away. Now that he was out of the way, those backstabbing bastards could be on his side, bend for his every whim. They had become nothing but servants to what they were fighting against. It was pathetic. It was laughable.

He closed his eyes thinking about what he had really been doing up until now, he hadn't been doing this correctly. Like what Kakashi said, he still wasn't thinking for himself. This was his chance to prove to everyone that he could be his own person; he wasn't going to be anyone's slave anymore. He was going to start to be dependent only on himself, and only listen to himself.

"_You need to start thinking for yourselves, you especially, you're alone now, there's no organization to tell you what to do anymore. You can choose your own destiny."_

Itachi closed his eyes as he looked back at the doors behind him; he remembered what happened behind these walls. He didn't give a damn about is parents or the rest of the clan, to hell with them. He was glad that they died. It was the first one to die: Shisui. He never expected his cousin to be like that, he never thought that he was going to be the one to turn on him.

_I have to stop thinking about him; _Itachi scolded himself, looking down at his hands. Shisui was the one who drove him to become this, he was the one who drove him to be the person he was in the woods. He had forced Itachi to save Sasuke's life. He was the one who made him draw closer to the last of the Uchiha clan.

"Maybe he isn't as weak as you thought. After all, I nearly killed him down by the Nakano River that night and he survived, yet you died so easily," Itachi snickered lightly. "Shisui, I didn't even think I was going to survive that night. I thought that I was going to die right after you did. It was even worse when I went to sleep, I couldn't. You made all of that happen. You were so selfish."

"_This clan, I've given up all hope on this clan. The Uchiha Clan made me into this. Thank you Shisui for giving me this power, thank you for opening my eyes…"_

Itachi took a breath. "And now Sasuke, thank you for letting me close them again," he backed away from the edge starting to walk down the hallway again, remembering everything that he had gone through.

Although he felt reborn, he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for what happened to the Uchiha Clan. If they had never died he would have never had this reality check, Sasuke's will wouldn't be this strong. He wouldn't be his own person; he would be another puppet, another mindless follower of their father. He would have lost his soul. Deep in his heart he felt as though he saved Sasuke, as well as saved himself. The death that he was anticipating should be enough of a reward. He still had to prove that Shisui was wrong about Itachi, he might be strong, but he would die just as easily as everyone else would.

Walking by the room that Sasuke was in, he heard small murmurs over the rolling thunder outside. There was no way that Sasuke had been able to even think about perfecting that jutsu right now, the first few times should have started out as nothing but destruction. Maybe he was more persistent than he thought.

Itachi opened the door to see Sasuke on the ground, breathing heavily, his eyes closed, he was worn out. The book was still opened to a page, more blood splattered onto the pages. Sasuke had taken the same route as him; he was using himself as a test subject. Yet the young ninja wasn't already hurt, causing more pain to his body, pain that Itachi knew that he would never be able to take.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed, walking toward the young boy hearing his breathing sound painfully, small gurgling noises passing his lips Itachi saw the blood running from his mouth. "Idiot," he groaned rolling the boy onto his back resting his hands up against his chest. He slowly put his chakra through him, repeating the action from the woods only with much more confidence than before. This time he knew that it could work for sure, trusting that he had a good grip on the jutsu.  
Sasuke's breathing cleared up quickly as Itachi let go of him, standing up to look around the room. Sasuke wasn't going to leave until he could heal Itachi, it was his new ambition. He had made a bargain, a bargain that Itachi knew that he would never uphold. No matter how hard Sasuke tried, the odds were against him to even fully heal the damage to Itachi's lung. He had no idea how painful it was to take a breath.

Turning away from Sasuke, he placed a hand on his chest. It had to work; he knew that a medical ninja could heal themselves if their wounds weren't too vital. He was still able to breathe and function. If he could even take a little stress off of it as Sakura did that day, he could increase the time that he had left. They needed more time, if Sasuke was ever going to achieve his full potential, Itachi would have to stay alive.

He coughed as he felt it start to work just a little, the bleeding starting to stop. For only God knew how long, he had been moving the rib out of his lung with sheer force, a few of the times he felt like he was going to die. He couldn't though, not now, not when Sasuke was so close.

Turning back to his younger brother, a look of worry came across Itachi's face. There was no telling when he would reach the potential that he needed. There was also no telling when Orochimaru would finally come for him. He closed his eyes tightly, that wasn't a concern right now, the only thing that concerned him was Sasuke's health. Staying up to ungodly hours of the night wasn't going to help him get through the next days rigorous work. He would have to stay well rested.

"You've had it for today," Itachi breathed moving back to him lifting Sasuke's body off of the ground. _I don't expect him to go quietly, the second that he wakes up I'll never hear the end of it. _

He smiled as he left the room; Sasuke was starting to get stronger only after a few days of training, his chakra control starting to become flawless. He was on the borderline f being able to perform the clone technique that he had grown to envy since the first day that he had heard about it.

"You'll become as strong as me in no time at all," he looked over the edge of the walkway at the falling rain. Nothing was going to be in his way, there was nothing that was going to destroy his vision of the future, everyone who already hindered it was out of the way. Sakura and Kabuto were next on the list to die.

Slowly he made it to the doorway to Sasuke's room, reluctantly reaching to open the door. It had been some time since they were on good terms in that room, he would have to make this as quick as possible to make all of the potential that they were going to get into another argument disappear.

He walked through the room, placing Sasuke gently on the bed looking down at him. There had to be another way for him to protect Sasuke, he was already starting to let him down everywhere that they turned. The time in the woods proved that he had to pay more attention to him, that scar right above his heart was never going to heal even if Itachi was a medical ninja. He wasn't advanced enough to cover up the scars that he was going to be left with. The image would n ever disappear.

"Never again," Itachi breathed, kissing Sasuke on the forehead stroking his cheek lightly moving down to kiss his lips. "I promised that I wouldn't let anything like that happen to you, and I failed you. Never again, Sasuke. Never again will I put you in a situation like that."

He backed away from Sasuke starting to walk toward the door. He needed to take better care of them, risk his life so that Orochimaru would never obtain the sharingan on his side. He would never break them apart. He had to keep him away as he tried to block out the memories of Shisui. Focus, it was the biggest part of this whole plan, the only way that it was going to work on in his favor. He had to focus.

The only way that he could focus would be if he were to leave Sasuke alone for a while and let the boy rest. He had been through a lot today, the power of Mystical Palms taking a major toll on his body. The more sleep that he got the more time that he was guaranteed for the next day. He would only get stronger.

"I kept him alive for a reason," Itachi breathed. "Even if I've forgotten the reason, I know that it still exists somewhere in my dreams. I have to stop walking away from all of my problems and I start to stand up to them."

"_You're scared that you're going to lose him. You fear that you don't have enough power to save him, or that you have too much power that you won't even care about him."_

"I have to face my fears," he touched the door as he heard the sheets shift behind him, the sound of a single moan filling his ears. "Damn it…" he turned around to see Sasuke start to wake up. Everything was going too smoothly. It was only a matter of time before it got like this. So much for relaxation.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that this chapter was also not an essential key to the plot of the story, but I needed to take a break from all of that. The next chapter is going to contain a lemon, I know that much. Thank you to all of my reviewers, you guys rock. so what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that I should stop the fillers. Honesty is good. 


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: **Don't own anything...

**Warnings: **This chapter contains a lemon (yaoi incest). This also contains blood, references to violence, coarse language, OOC, and the canon... we know. This is also long and there are quite few errors in there, I'm sorry about those.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu

* * *

"Sasuke," Itachi started, looking back at him with a blank look on his face. "Go back to sleep, you have a lot of work ahead of you," he started to pull the door opened as he heard Sasuke gasp again. "It's the storm isn't it?"

The young ninja was almost silent as he clung onto the pillow. "I'm fine," Sasuke breathed, closing his eyes as another sound passed through the air pulsing off of the walls. He was far from alright. Itachi could tell by the whimpers that were passing his lips.

He sat next to him on the bed with a smirk on his face looking at the chipping purple paint on his fingernails. "Sasuke, I told you once that the lightning can't hurt you. I told you that as long as I was here that nothing can happen to you. I might have said that six years ago, but I still remember like it was yesterday," he smiled as he stroked Sasuke's face. "But whenever I said that you'd go to sleep, I want you to sleep Sasuke; if you get sick then I'm going to get sick…"

Sasuke snuggled deeper into the pillow as Itachi stood up to walk away, his hand wrapping around his wrist pulling him closer. "Itachi," he breathed, closing his eyes tightly. "All of those years ago, you know why I went to sleep so easily?" he pulled the hand closer to him. "It was because you went to bed with me."

"Aren't you a little old to have me in your bed?" Itachi asked flatly trying to pull his arm free. He closed his eyes as a smirk rolled across his lips. "We have a lot of planning to do, and all of it revolves around you, don't you think you should sleep?"

The younger ninja whimpered as another crash of thunder ran through the sky. He grasped onto Itachi's hand tighter, pulling him closer to his body feeling him surrender. No longer pulling away from him, but more so pushing toward. Sasuke smiled lightly feeling his brother move closer to him. He knew that it wasn't Itachi's own decision to take this vow of abstinence, it was all for Sasuke, everything was.

He felt Itachi's warmth join him underneath the blankets, drawing closer to him, wrapping an arm around him pulling him closer. It was a bad idea to do this. Sasuke knew that. Every time that they'd been closer, Sasuke felt as though he was breaking farther away from Konoha and starting to associate with Itachi. He had the village to think of; he had to think of all of the ninja who lived there who trusted him. He had to think of the ones who could wind up like Sakura Haruno.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed, holding him closely. "You did well today," he kissed him on the top of the head, running a hand through his ebony hair. "I think that we can make progress in no time at all if you keep up the persistence that you had earlier. Maybe for once in my life I'm doing something right with you."

Sasuke nuzzled closer to Itachi's chest, a satisfied smirk on his face. "You're an excellent ninja, Itachi, there was never a doubt in my mind about that. It's just that all of this time I think that you were looking at the world in the wrong perspective," he closed his eyes running his hand along Itachi's stomach. "I don't know many people who actually give me dangerous weapons like our cousin's dagger. Then again, that did come in handy in some scrapes."

Itachi let out a small chuckle. "That blade is one of the most powerful weapons I have ever seen. When used right, that dagger could destroy even the toughest ninja. Shisui always had ways to have me beat, weapon mastery was more of his forte, but I learned faster than he did. It hurt him to know that I was going to surpass him."

Sasuke closed his eyes. The village, everything that he had ever done had been for the Goddamn village. Everything was about Konoha; there was nothing for Sasuke these days. He wanted to be closer to Itachi, but the village subconsciously said no to that. He only had one thing to say about Konoha and everything that was inside of it.

"Fuck the village," Sasuke breathed, looking up into Itachi's eyes with a teasing grin on his face. "Fuck Konoha and everyone in it," he took a deep breath. "To Hell with all of those bastards that I call my colleagues, screw all of the strictures that I once followed," he touched Itachi's chest lightly. "None of it can even compare to what I have right now, nothing can fight the sensations that I have with you. I wanted to look at life without you, and right now I can't see that happening."

Itachi sighed. "I can't let you detach yourself from the village, Sasuke. It wasn't my intention to make you hate Konoha as I did. I don't want you to be like me, I want you to be your own person, a person who's stronger than me."

Sasuke shook his head. "I say to hell with all of the people in the village, I say fuck them, something that you never had the courage to say. Fuck every last one of them!" he took a deep breath moving to take Itachi's lips in a light kiss. "To Hell everyone who doesn't want us to be together, everyone who is trying to pull us away from one another, none of them matter to me anymore, nothing matters to me anymore. Nothing but you, Itachi, all of this time when I was trying to hate you…"

"Shhh," Itachi stroked Sasuke's back. "I know, Sasuke, I know. I know the pain that you're going through right now," he stopped his hand as he looked away. "I know that's why that night hurt so much."

Sasuke kissed his lips again. "Itachi, you don't know what I want right now," he ran his kisses down his older brother's neck. "Itachi, I want you, I want you more than anything that I've ever wanted before. After what happened in the woods, I thought that I was never going to feel your touch again, and it's been a long time since then. Itachi…"

Their lips touched again, Itachi's arms wrapping around Sasuke's body pulling him closer to his body. A deep breath passed Sasuke's lips as they separated looking into each other's eyes deeply, Itachi's hands running along Sasuke's back. Taking another deep breath, they kissed again, holding onto each other tightly.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed feeling Itachi let him go starting to move away. "No…" he pulled him back. "No… don't go," he took a deep breath pulling him closer to his body. "I want you to stay here with me."

"Sasuke," Itachi started as he looked at the young boy. "I know you want me to stay," he kissed him on the forehead. "All you have to do is ask."

"I don't want you to have to ask," Sasuke breathed, a hiss coming through his teeth feeling Itachi start to bite at his neck. "I want you to take."

"I thought my leaving was punishment enough," Itachi chuckled continuing to kiss as Sasuke's neck. "After all, it did make you this upset about it. It showed me something. It showed me that there was always a deeper love that you're trying to hide. Even strong ninja feel love; even ninja of my caliber of notoriety can feel it. It's a punishing emotion."

Sasuke moaned feeling his brother's hands move underneath his shirt rubbing against his chest. "Itachi!" he closed his eyes tightly his hand gripping Itachi's ponytail, pulling at the hair tightly. "Please, don't be teasing me," he started to open his watering obsidian eyes. "If you're going to go much further than this, you're going to have to be doing this for real. Not as a cruel joke."

"Cruel joke?" Itachi asked, his hands pulling Sasuke's shirt over his head, hearing Sasuke's purring become louder than it ever had been before. "Sasuke," he swallowed hard, throwing the garment to the ground looking down at Sasuke whose eyes were gazing timidly up into his, hitches in his breathing. "Sasuke," Itachi smirked, moving down to take his lips again.

Their lips hit again as they fell deeper into the mattress, Sasuke's breathing becoming even heavier than before. He was getting pushed slowly to the edge of the wall of sanity, his mind starting to wander through a swirl of passion, another moan slipping through his lips.

"Itachi," he breathed his hands moving to grasp up against his back, looking into his eyes. "Please, I-Itachi," he took a deep breath. "Please, don't let this be like all of those other times where we were in bed together, don't leave me like this," he swallowed hard before trying to formulate the words, trying to say the request that he wanted to make. "F-fuck me, Itachi. P-please…"

Fingers traced Sasuke's jaw line his eyes closing lightly. "Sasuke," he kissed his forehead. "Don't beg for it, show some dignity. All you have to do is ask nicely and it's yours," he moved his hands down to Sasuke's pants, starting to pull them down his legs hearing the young boy's moans, the small incarnations of curses fresh on his lips.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed watching his pants hit the ground. "What's the rush? You have all of the time in the world; don't you want to make this count? I mean, it isn't just a meaningless thing. At least I don't think it is by the way that you preach about love. You say you love me, Itachi…"

"And I do," Itachi breathed holding his younger brother's bare body running a hand through his hair. He kissed him lightly on the lips. "There isn't a damn thing in this world that I would exchange you for, not for all of the power that the Akatsuki could offer."

Their lips connected them to each other once again, their hands grasping for support. The sound of the mattress squeaking filled the room bouncing off of the walls coming back to haunt their ears. Every sound was only augmented as Itachi shifted his weight off of Sasuke's watching the tremors running through his brother's body. He was giving into the passion; it was only a matter of time before the joy made him hard.

"Sasuke," Itachi whispered lightly. "I think that trust is important in a relationship between two people, especially when one is teaching the other how to unleash his potential. If you don't trust me with your body, how will you know when I steer you wrong?"

Sasuke took a deep breath. "I do trust you…"

"Don't be too trustworthy to people," Itachi breathed, looking down at Sasuke's chest seeing, the scar that had branded the flesh. "They tend to do things to hurt you, even if unintentionally," his fingers brushed the scared tissue, his eyes not looking up at Sasuke, only hearing him breathe harshly, his chest tightening at the touch.

_Never again, _Itachi repeated, remembering the blood that was on his hands, the dagger lodged so deeply into Sasuke's chest. He looked up into Sasuke's eyes, seeing a look of worry deep within them. _I don't want to lose you._

Sasuke sighed as he looked into Itachi's eyes. "You did the best that you could…"

Itachi's fingers continued to stroke over the raised flesh, looking at the mark that his weakness had created on his chest. Feeling Sasuke's heartbeat was enough to know that he did the best that he could, he saved him. Yet for another time in his presence, Itachi felt the guilt that he had been trying to fight forever. This was his battle, Sasuke wasn't supposed to get hurt.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, stroking his brother's face lightly. "There was nothing more you could have done for me. You gave me another chance at life when I should have died. You put your own well being on the line to make sure that I was going to make it out alive," he moved forward to kiss him on the lips lightly. "Thank you."

Itachi chuckled, kissing him lightly on the lips, pulling away to look into his eyes. "Sasuke, that scar, it's not so unattractive," he brushed his fingers up against it. "Scars make character, scars show hardship," he kissed lightly at his neck. "I think that we learned a valuable lesson," he rested his hand up against his hand up against Sasuke's heart. "Sakura has intent to kill us."

Sasuke moved to take Itachi's lips in a short passionate kiss. "Stop talking, you always talk too much in these situations. Are you nervous? Or do you just like to hear yourself speak?"

They kissed deeply, Sasuke's body being pushed to the mattress, a low breath leaving his lips. Hands trailed down his body to stroke his sensitive flesh, taking in another gasp of air. Onyx eyes closed tightly, Itachi's hands not showing any mercy to his fatigued body. He didn't want any mercy.

"I-Ita…" Sasuke panted, swallowing hard. "T-touch me…"

Itachi looked up to see Sasuke's eyes watering violently. He moved his hand to run along hardening flesh, Sasuke's panting speeding up to incredible heights. He was on the verge of letting out one single scream.

"Oh Sasuke," Itachi breathed moving down underneath the sheets, still holding tightly on his younger brother's arousal. "What am I ever going to with you? I always leave you so unsatisfied."

He heard Sasuke cry out in pleasure as he was taken into his mouth, his hands tightening in the sheets. The warmth that was held to closely to Sasuke's body was now flowing through him, his heart rolling up against his tongue. He took him in more, as far as he could possibly go.

"I-Itachi!" Sasuke swallowed loudly his hand moving to run through Itachi's long black hair. "Yes!" he took a deep breath, his hands tightening painfully, the skin concealing his knuckles almost breaking. "Itachi!"

Itachi took him deeper, sliding his lips up and down against Sasuke's flesh. He could feel that passion surging through his own body, his heart racing in his own chest. The taste of surrender was starting to form on his lips, a moan rumbling through his throat, vibrating through Sasuke's body.

"Damn it," Sasuke purred, his eyes opening slightly to look down to see his brother, his hand tightening in his hair. "I… I-Ita…" he swallowed again, "…chi."

Itachi only took more in hearing Sasuke's voice get that high pitched, get that hungry for him to continue on. It had been a while since he heard Sasuke this way, been a while since he tasted the saltiness of his pre-cum. He let out a moan taking more into his mouth, Sasuke's body shaking more fiercely. He wasn't going to last much longer.

"This isn't fair," Sasuke took a deep breath. "You're just teasing me now…" he let out a low groan, his eyes closing tightly. His toes were shaking as he took a deep breath. "Itachi, you're a bastard!"

They got lost in the motions, the warmth of Itachi's saliva making him go closer to the edge. His teeth grazing gently at his flesh making Sasuke's breathing soar, his lungs burning with every inhalation. Sweat formed on both of their bodies, as Sasuke started to shake violently, his moans strained, almost painful to listen to.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, wincing in a combination of pain and passion. "I-I…" he ran a hand deeper into Itachi's hair, his heart racing dangerously in his chest, on the verge of exploding in his chest. "I-I-Ita… Itachi!"

He gave into the pleasure, his release filling his brother's mouth hearing him moan lightly as he let the last the last pulses of his orgasm run through his body. His body lay limp, soullessly gripping the sheets that were adhering to his skin. Water ran down his eyes as he heard his brother swallow all of the remnants of his climax. He couldn't take anymore of this.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed looking down at Itachi. "I don't enjoy thinking of you as a teacher; you're more than that to me."

Itachi snickered as he wiped a rivulet of semen off of his lips with the back of his hand. "I never said that I was just your teacher. There's a code of ethics that say a teacher and a student couldn't do this together. They never said anything about a trainer and a trainee."

Sasuke felt Itachi's lips move to his neck licking at the flesh lightly. "But there are ethics saying that members that share blood can't do this to one another," he took a deep breath. "This is _incest_."

"Incest never tasted as sweet as it does when I'm with you," Itachi breathed continuing to move his teeth along the flesh of his brother's neck. "Sasuke, you make this taboo even more enticing," he moved to whisper in his ear. "And no one's here to catch us in the act."

"Our parents would have been pissed, especially father, he would have been furious," he took a deep breath wrapping his arms around Itachi's body. "He was already starting to catch on with all of the love bites that you left on my neck. You made it really obvious that we were up to something."

"You were six, what was the worst we could have been up to?" Itachi asked, stroking Sasuke's face. "I was rough with you back then, and I'm still rough with you. Maybe too rough…"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "I like it when you're rough," he moaned feeling Itachi's lips up against his Adam's apple, his hand up against his chest. "Itachi!" he took another gulp of air. "I don't like it when you play games with me, I like it when you're to the point," he ran a hand through Itachi's ponytail. "Fuck me…"

Their lips hit one another's the smell of sweat more apparent than before. Itachi's weight was pressed up against Sasuke's body, robbing his lungs the ability to breathe. The madness grew larger, completely engulfing them, Sasuke falling harder than Itachi was. This was different than the other times.

Their sexual relationship had changed, and with every dynamic, Itachi's character was changing as well. He remembered the night when he was robbed of his virginity, the last time that he really saw the Itachi that he had grown to hate, the one that he wanted to kill. The brutality of his movements, the cold-heartedness of his words, the blood that stained the Nakano Riverbank, all of those aspects were all forever glued in his heart, holding onto his soul.

That died quickly, the memories starting to fade as he remembered the day when Itachi came back to this house, the look in his eyes. He could never forget that moment. He had become a new person then, the cruelty that had once been his creed now had transformed into a need for Sasuke to be by his side. He hated that Itachi more, the begging one, the weak one, the one who needed him so much that he neglected his own health. That damned Itachi who had made him cry so many unnecessary tears for him.

He continued on this road to the man that was on top of him now, kissing him fully, passionately at a very slow pace. The next time that they had sex with one another, it had to have been pity. The blood that had been coated on Sasuke's cheeks, the constant words of forgiveness from his lips for not being able to kill Naruto like he had asked him to, the fear that Itachi was going to kill him. Itachi was never like that before; he never gently laid Sasuke down on the bed and poured so much into him. That night was the closest that they had ever had to lovemaking, something that he thought Itachi Uchiha wasn't capable of.

The passion of that night only transformed into a night filled with fear and more tears that Sasuke ever thought he could cry. That was the day that Asuma Sarutobi was stabbed, the day when he thought Itachi was going to die. That night while they slept on the floor due to Sasuke's _accident_, Itachi was so close to him, so taunting. He put up a front, masking his true fears by talking about _that night_, the true fear not showing at all. They hurt each other physically, laughing and purring the whole night until they finally gave in to their lust. The highlight of that night, the one aspect that Sasuke was going to remember the most vividly was how tightly Itachi held him, whispering that promise in his ears over and over again as if trying to tell him that he was breaking it with every step that he took. He swore that nothing was ever going to happen to Sasuke, that he would destroy anything that would cause him any harm. And in turn on that day he did just that, he had destroyed himself, he was the one who couldn't keep the promise, he was a retched fool. That whole night was the most emotional night that Sasuke had ever seen in his brother's life.

The events after that moment didn't get rid of that Itachi; the day when Sasuke passed out from the flu came to his mind. Sasuke didn't know what happened during all of that time, but all he could remember was waking up to his room being covered with blood, empty bottles of alcohol being strewn about the floor. Itachi had eased up after Sasuke woke up and they started their training. That night it had led to Itachi's old room, where he had given him a gift: Shisui's dagger. In that very room Sasuke had a thousand fantasies of having his brother. That came true and in one word to describe the sensations: electric. That night their bodies were in the most synch that they were ever going to be in, the fruits of training making them that way, Itachi was the most human that night that he had been in four years. That was the night when he thought he couldn't change anymore. Itachi was still alive inside of that body, the monster almost gone from existence; it was finally here, the moment where he knew who Itachi really was.

Yet he did change, after Kabuto Yakushi came into play and Sakura left the village to join the Sound. The moment in the woods, the blood that was stained on his blade, it all made Itachi completely different. Coping with the pain even made him threaten to leave and never come back. That all led to this moment, the moment when Itachi had come out of the darkness that the Akatsuki had put him in and became more of a human that he had ever been before. This was going to be different than the other times; this was going to be a new chapter in their epic.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed, kissing him again, hearing his breathing start to rush. "You seem quiet…" he backed away from his body, looking down at his panting brother, seeing the lost look in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just thinking…" Sasuke panted as he took his brother's lips again. "I was thinking about how much you have changed after all of this time," he held onto him closer, their breath condensing on each other's flesh. "Itachi," he swallowed hard, his shoulders tensing up with every movement. "You've become a new person in this long process."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Itachi chuckled, stroking Sasuke's moist cheek. "You hated that monster. You clearly stated that 'that wasn't how your brother acted'. Last time I checked I'm still your brother, and that's no longer how I act, I can't act like that around you anymore," he ran his tongue along Sasuke's pulse point. "Sasuke…"

Slowly Sasuke trailed his fingers to take his chin pulling him into a kiss, slipping his tongue past his lips. He started to take control of his brother's mouth hearing him moan gently as he could taste the muskiness of his climax on his lips. The taste pushing him deeper into the pool of lust. Itachi was never like this. He was a totally new person right here. The brutality, the pity, the tenderness, the begging, it was all gone right now. Yet he could still sense some traces as he ran his fingers along the scar on his chest. He was killing himself on the inside.

Sasuke separated from the kiss, looking down at his brother's fingers seeing the fingertips running along the raised skin. He could feel Itachi's hurt. He could feel his pain. After all of this time when Itachi was numb, one young boy was the one who could break him out of his trance, make him understand that emotions were not a crutch. They were always going to be inside of him fighting for control. He was giving in, the feeling seeping through as he touched the scar.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed taking his hand. "You didn't do anything wrong, the plan was flawless. It was going to be perfectly executed. "I was the one who made it fail, I was the one who dropped the dagger," he closed his eyes. "I was the one who…"

"Don't put all of the blame on you," Itachi breathed. "If you only blame yourself, you'll only grow depressed, distant, and after that happens there's no saving you from all of the mindless endeavors that you're going to do," he stroked his cheek. "Sasuke, let me have some of the blame, I brought you into the woods. I barely competent in medical ninjutsu."

Sasuke pressed his lips to his brother's lightly. "How about you stay quiet and finish what you started," he smiled gently. "Just focus on me," pressed Itachi's hand up against his chest as he let a smile pass his lips. "I'm still alive…"

Itachi smiled back as he moved to take his lips again, silencing all of the doubts that he had, trying not to pay attention to the scar that was on his chest. All he could focus on was the future. Maybe one that wasn't going to be so bleak. The Itachi that he had fallen in love with all of those years ago was alive.

Sasuke felt Itachi back away, running his fingers along his lips. Sasuke gasped as the feeling of the calloused dry hands up against his mouth, delving into the wet heat of his mouth. Everything was getting hazy as he sucked on the fingers tasting the salty mix of alcohol and sweat rolling through his mouth.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed, looking down at him. "You're always so impatient, if we rush these things there won't be anything to it. It will just be more sex."

Sasuke backed away from the fingers gently. "I don't want you to make love to me, Itachi; I thought I told you that…"

A sigh filled his ears. "What am I going to do with you Sasuke?"

Sasuke continued to suck at the fingers. He was lucky that he had Itachi on his side instead of as an enemy. With Itachi being his tutor, nothing was going to be able to touch him. He would gain the power that he needed to become strong. The sad part was his dream would have to die for this power, if he even thought of turning on Itachi; he would kill him without a second thought.

"_If I'm still alive and I even hear an utter of one syllable that you are going to seek power from that man I will destroy you."_

Itachi was serious when he said that, Itachi wasn't like all of the other people he could have taken as a sensei, he wasn't bonded to a code that said that he couldn't hurt his student. His grudge against Orochimaru was strong enough to make as if no one that he knew and held dear would ever betray him like that. His will had not broken that much, and despite the emotional turmoil, he was still the strongest ninja that Sasuke had ever seen in his whole life.

The fingers were taken from his mouth, Itachi's hand resting up against Sasuke's abdomen, his eyes locking. This was another step closer to what Sasuke craved. In spite of everything that had happened between them, these were the times when he felt the safest around his brother, the times when he could see that his brother was willing to make a bond with him that he could never break. It showed that Itachi wasn't going to leave.

"Ita…" Sasuke breathed, feeling the fingertips at his entrance, looking into Itachi's dark eyes seeing the look of sympathy that was rolling through them. "Why do you always look at me like that?" he took a deep breath. "You make it seem like this is a pain to you…"

"It's not a pain," Itachi smirked. He pushed a single moist digit into Sasuke's body hearing him hiss. "We're a team; Sasuke, you and I are a unit that can't be broken, a bond that that cannot be hindered. I am your strength and you're mine, just as I'm your weakness and your mine," he pushed in deeper, Sasuke grasping onto his shoulder. "We are one…"

Sasuke moaned feeling another finger joining the first, exploring him, touching him. He was searching as if he had forgotten, trying to find that one spot that would send Sasuke into paradise. Still their eyes never broke from one another's, Sasuke's fingernails digging deeply into his brother's shoulders. The wind outside blew harder than it had the whole night, the rain that had been adhering to the glass being swept away with every gust.

"Itachi!" Sasuke moaned, his eyes closing slightly, still looking at him holding on tighter. The pressure that his fingers were exuding inside of his body was enough to make him want more of Itachi's body. It made him want to become one with Itachi just like he said he would.

"Right there?" Itachi asked brushing over the area that he had hit. "Is that the spot, Sasuke?" he licked his lips as he looked into Sasuke's watering eyes moving his free hand to wipe the tears away. "Just say when Sasuke, I can always stop if you want me to," he kissed him on the lips pulling his fingers out hearing the young boy let out a low purr. "Sasuke…" he kissed along his jaw line.

"Itachi," Sasuke winced running a hand through Itachi's hair. "I want you…" he kissed his forehead, his breath starting to level, his body starting to relax. His hands trailed down Itachi's body to reach in between them, moving to undo his pants feeling his body start to shiver. "I need you…"

They kissed deeper, more passionately, Sasuke's back being pressed up against his mattress. Everything in his body was speeding up as Itachi took control, pushing him further off of the edge. The time was getting closer; he could tell by his older brother's breathing patterns that he wasn't going to keep away from him much longer. He was ecstatic.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he backed away, moving his hand to spit into it, hearing his younger brother moan loudly. He ran his hand along his arousal, his saliva wetting the flesh, with every pump from his hand he was starting to breathe heavier, his body shaking visibly.

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke opened his mouth to speak. "I'm ready now…" he moved his legs apart further, looking up at into Itachi's eyes wantonly, a small smile on his face. "P-please…" he closed his eyes turning his head to the side taking deep, slow breaths. "I-Itachi…"

Itachi snickered moving closer to him taking his lips in a light kiss. "I told you, Sasuke," he smirked lightly another chuckle passing his lips. "All you have to do is ask…"

Sasuke let out a squeal as he was entered feeling Itachi's lips still pressed up against his as to distract him from the penetration. It worked. Feeling Itachi's kiss was enough to prevent any of the pain he might have still had. It was a sensation that he was never going to get used to.

"I-I-Itachi…" Sasuke breathed as they separated from one another's lips, looking into his brother's eyes. He found a peace in them while they lay completely idle; he found a comfort that he thought that he would never see alive in those dark irises. He relished in the heat, basked in the moment that he knew would soon end.

"Just say when it's okay," Itachi whispered on Sasuke's lips, his voice sounding almost breathless, his hand moved to cup Sasuke's sweat soaked cheek. "I'll give you some time to _adjust_," he closed his eyes a low purr rolling across his lips. "I know that you're tense, I could tell that you were the second that I touched your scar," he snickered lightly. "Also the way that you said that you hate it even I keep talking…"

"I-I d-do hate that," Sasuke took a deep breath. "You can start moving now, Itachi," he sighed lightly. "I'm ready…"

There wasn't a second for Sasuke to go back on the words that he had just said; Itachi had already starting thrusting into him. Thinking about all of the times that they had done this before, he couldn't compare it to any of them; Itachi was the most human that he was ever going to be right now. The movements proved to not be attempts to hurt him or even make him scream that loudly. This was the release of stress that he had always dreamed of.

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed, getting lost in the sounds of the mattress creaking, his fingernails dragging down Itachi's shirt, pulling at the fabric tightly.

Itachi still had all of his clothes on from when they were continuing Sasuke's medical training. There was one article that Itachi always wore that Sasuke would die before he let him take it off: the necklace. Gripping the piece of jewelry helped ease the pain that he was feeling with every thrust that was put through his body, hitting harshly at his prostate.

He could feel his lungs start to burn in his chest, his throat dry with every breath that he was attempting to take. Every muscle in his body was starting to tighten painfully hearing a muffled cry coming from his brother's lips. If his body was going through this much hell he could only imagine what Itachi was going through.

Itachi's breathing patterns were the most stable that he had heard in a while; the small bursts of chakra that he was using to save himself were working just enough to keep his respiration going. The small part were gentle up against Sasuke's lips as he moved harder against him, pushing deeper into his body, assaulting him with no end as muscles tightened as much as they could.

"Sasuke," Itachi chucked, licking gently at the younger ninja's neck, his teeth gently grazing along his pulse point. Distracted by the teeth and tongue working together on his neck, he never even felt the hand fall down to grasp at his arousal.

Itachi's right had sent pulses through his body as he pumped the pulsing flesh with every thrust that he administered. The metal of the ring was digging into Sasuke's skin making a small squeal bubble from his throat followed by an incoherent curse. They were rushing, Sasuke could tell by the hurried movements that Itachi's body had made. But he had to make the best of this. This was the paradise that he had craved ever since the moment Itachi walked into this room.

The movement of Itachi's hand along his erection, his lips kissing him so gently, the thrusts that Sasuke ground into with all of the energy in his body all caused a wild head rush. Itachi was touching him in ways that Sasuke feared that he would. There would be no going back from him now; it was past the point of no return. He could live with that choice; he wouldn't hate himself if this was where he was cursed to be forever. This was the curse that he was destined to bear.

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed, swallowing harshly, his hands shaking up against his brother's necklace, his eyes closing tightly. The warmth rolling through his abdomen, feeling his blood boiling through his heart with every last beat.

This was his curse to bear; this was the way that he wanted to live forever. The heat only accented that, the pulsing of their bodies were completely in harmony. He could feel the edge start to come closer to the moment where he could feel the moans seeping off of his lips. He was drawing near.

"I-Ita…" Sasuke gulped, running a hand through Itachi's ponytail. "I…" he closed his eyes tighter, breathing patterns becoming erratic. "_Itachi_!" he reached his peak, feeling his brother's hand tighten around his length. Everything was hazy as he almost lost consciousness from his climax. He was already worn out from all of the training in Mystical Palms, his energy almost depleted.

Itachi followed soon after, barely making a sound. Sasuke panted lightly as the last surges of his brother's orgasm were rode out, his hands still grasping the loose ebony hairs of his ponytail.

"Sasuke," Itachi smirked kissing the young boy's lips lightly.

Sasuke sighed closing his eyes feeling his brother's weight being removed from his body, moaning at the loss of extra body heat. "I-Itachi… no. Don't go…"

Itachi looked over at Sasuke as he grasped the bottom of his sweat soaked shirt. "I wasn't going to go anywhere," he chuckled almost silently. "God Sasuke, I'm not going to leave you…" he pulled the shirt over his body throwing it to the ground. He could feel Sasuke's eyes moving toward the bruise that was staining his ribcage.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed closing his eyes moving his fingers to touch the dark spot hearing his brother wince lightly. "I'm sorry…" he closed his eyes. "I never thought that we'd be together. If I did…"

The older Uchiha closed his eyes. "Sasuke, I was lucky that something inside of you that night didn't want to put that much into the hit. Otherwise I probably would have drowned in my own blood by now," he opened his eyes to look at younger brother. "Sasuke," he sighed, still breathless. "I know that look; I gave you that look not to long ago when I looked at your scar…" he smiled lightly. "Let's call it even…"

Sasuke watched as his brother lay next to him, taking a deep breath as he reached a hand out to run through Sasuke's hair another smile on his face. Itachi was never this happy before. Sasuke could tell by the way that he was starting to develop human feelings. Guilt, sorrow, and the hunger for forgiveness, all of those emotions were starting to come into his brother's being.

He closed his eyes as he moved closer to Itachi letting out a sigh of relief as he did. "Thank you, Itachi," he rested on his brother's chest.

Itachi didn't say anything to that, but Sasuke didn't expect him to. As he got lost in the beating of Itachi's heart he knew what this was. This was the curse that he was destined to bear, the way that he was going to spend the rest of his life. If he couldn't kill him, then he was going to protect him. If he couldn't do it than no one else could.

"Goodnight, Sasuke," Itachi breathed, still stroking his brother's wet hair. Sasuke knew that Itachi rarely slept, the case of insomnia was back to plague him with a side order of paranoia. The worry wasn't too great however. After all, he was Itachi Uchiha, there wasn't anyone in that whole Sound Village that could match him.

As he started to fall asleep, Sasuke ran his own hand along the scar that was on his chest. _Sakura, _he gazed out the window, watching the wind blow through the trees. He was going to save her from Kabuto, even if that meant that he was going to have to kill her. No matter what he did, he was going to lose her.

"_But it's so hard when you lose someone. I don't want that for you. I don't want you to be like me. To surpass me, to finally take me out, you have to be a better person than I am. I killed Shisui because I was too weak to reason with him."_

Sasuke closed his eyes as he moved closer to Itachi. _Sakura isn't going to listen to reason, just like Shisui didn't listen to reason. If I have to kill her so be it, _he closed his eyes remembering the discoloration of Itachi's leg where the senbon had hit. Sakura had thrown those. She tried to kill him. She was going to pay.

This was his life now; this was the cursed that Itachi had given him, to be his apprentice, to be his student. He had no complaints; he would wear the mark of his shame. He would associate with the only one that he hated. The only one that he hated was also the only one that he loved. This was his curse. This was his burden. This was the power he sought.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry that this was a poorly written lemon. The next chapter is going ot start the final run to the end (which will be coming sooner than you think.) So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Think that the end should come sooner? I would love to hear your honesty.

Next chapter continues the training of Sakura and Sasuke.


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own anything that has to do with the anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter is longer than the ones in the past and starting to connect with the last arc of the story. This chapter also contains blood/violence, coarse language, references to sex/rape, incest, yaoi, slight yuri (if you want to look at Ino and Sakura that way), OOC, and the canon is gone. There are also multiple errors in here that I didn't pick up (I got lazy).

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight ShikaIno, some SasuSaku, slight KabuSaku, traces of InoSaku

* * *

Pain, he could feel it deep in his chest as he looked around the room the sun shining through the window. It was a rarity to see the sun these days, the dark clouds that wept for the loss of Team 7 always seemed to have control over the heavens. This was different; the pain that was in his chest was accompanied by the rays of the sun. If there was a God, he hated Sasuke with an undying passion. 

He moved through the sheets hearing the rustling of them underneath his body. There was something wrong. He remembered last night; he remembered the pleasure that had run through his body. He remembered falling asleep. He remembered having Itachi right next to him.

"Itachi?" he asked, sitting up in bed looking around for his brother. "Itachi? Where are you?" he took a deep breath as he continued to look right and left. He wouldn't leave him alone; he promised that he wouldn't leave. Did Kabuto and Sakura come back to get him?

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled, his voice shaking with worry.

"Calm down," a voice said from the doorway. "God, Sasuke, I leave you alone for a moment and already you think I've done something stupid," he sighed. "You don't even trust me to go off on my own do you?"

Sasuke turned his vision to the doorway to see his brother standing right there looking straight at him. What he saw was different than any Itachi that he had ever seen. The clothes that he was wearing were different than they were last night, it was shocking. Everything truly Akatsuki about him was gone in a single night, save the ring that rested on his ring finger.

The purple nail polish that had been on his nails this whole time was wiped away completely, not a trace of the color to be found. The main color of his outfit stayed the same, he had always favored the color black. He kept his shirt, yet his pants had been replaced with black ones that resembled the ones that he had been wearing. The necklace that Sasuke had fallen in love with was still around his neck, the center of his attention.

His sword was still on his back, the sheath wrapped around his body, the holsters for his sai still acting as a belt. Everything weapon wise was the same as Sasuke had known, yet there was one thing on his body that had shown an almost contradicting factor. On the back of the shirt that Itachi had ever been wearing even under the old Akatsuki robe, he could see as he leaned up against the doorframe. There was the slight sight of red and white: the Uchiha crest.

"Itachi?" Sasuke smiled as he watched his brother walk closer. "You've changed your look again," he glanced at him from head to foot. "Your outfit is so… _black_," he moved to snuggle against the pillows again.

Itachi took a step forward with a smile on his face. "Did you have a good night's sleep?" he continued to walk until he was looking over him in the bed. "Or did you have another rough night?"

"My night was fine," Sasuke purred as he pulled the sweaty sheets closer, moving against to the pillows. "I slept the best night of my life last night," he sighed reaching to grasp Itachi's hand. "Would have been better if you stayed…"

"I can't sleep," Itachi answered lightly as he stroked the hand lightly. "But I didn't want to wake you up because we have a lot of training to do today. What kind of ninjutsu do you want to do today? Medical or elemental?"

Sasuke took a deep breath as he shook his head. "What time is it?"

"Eleven," Itachi answered quickly. "I thought that you needed sleep, so I let you sleep until you naturally woke up," he smiled lightly. "I was even kind enough to bring you breakfast," he pulled out a single red apple handing it to him. "You're no good if you're hungry."

Sasuke took the apple. "Thanks," he answered quietly as he looked out the window and then at his brother. "So you're serious about wearing that crest on your back, aren't you?"

Itachi nodded. "You showed me in the woods that we're in this together, and until we get out of this we're going to have to stick together," he looked down at Sasuke who was starting at the apple. "Are you alright?"

The young boy nodded shakily. "Yeah," he brought the apple to his lips. "I'm fine, no need worrying about me."

As he took the first bite of the apple he looked at his brother's new look, this whole time he had been sewing, a skill that Sasuke had giggled at when he was young. Itachi was everything that a person could want in a son; he was skilled in almost everything. The look of the new clothes only added to that, he had reattached to something that Sasuke thought that he was never going to acknowledge again.

"I can feel it, Sasuke," Itachi smiled as he took a deep breath. "We're going to make progress today, we're going to get a step closer to our goal in no time," he looked over at his younger brother. "I take it you'd want to work on medical ninjutsu," he grasped his side. "I can only heal it so much without hurting myself, Sasuke. If you really want to heal it, you're going to have to work as hard as you possibly can…"

Sasuke took a deep breath as he looked down at the apple. "Are you going to help me? I mean you did save me of death. You know the way the technique works; you know the way to fix something. I want to learn that from you. I don't care how many hours I work as long as you're going to be alright, Itachi."

"What kind of instructor would I be if I let my student do all of the work himself?" he smiled lightly as he looked out the window again. "I have to get you to be top notch before I take you to face them again. Besides, Konoha needs more ninja like you, more people to fully understand the art. You've grasped it, Sasuke; you have the potential to surpass that sensei of yours."

"Can I surpass you?" Sasuke asked taking a bite of the apple.

Itachi snickered lightly as he closed his eyes. "One step at a time, little brother, one step at a time," he stood up starting to walk toward the door. "Maybe sometime in the future you can match me, but the chances are slim. Well, maybe if you work hard you can get better than me. After all, isn't that what all big brothers want for their younger siblings?"

Sasuke smiled as he looked up at him. "By the way, Itachi," he turned to look back at him. "Could you get my clothes on your way out?"

Itachi sighed. "What am I going to do with you Sasuke?" he tossed Sasuke his pants. "Get dressed and meet me in the main room. Maybe we can get more than one aspect done today…"

The younger ninja watched as his brother walked away watching the crest on his back as he did so. _After all of this time, you aren't as far away as I thought you were. You were always right next to me…_

He took the last bite of his apple as he started to get dressed. The sky outside was showing him that there was a future for the team. Even if he was the one who was going to save all of them. Sakura wasn't going to go to the Sound Village; he wasn't going to hurt Naruto like that…

-----

Her fist hit the tree, her other hand holding various senbon. _Have to keep balance, show Kabuto that I'm stronger than Sasuke ever was. If I'm going to be allowed in the Sound Village then I have to prove my worth._

She continued to hit at the tree watching the bark start to come off of it. _This is easy, I have to focus chakra into my hand and then release it. This will increase speed, power, and accuracy. _She hit the tree again. _Even though it won't increase my strength insanely, it will still do as much damage to Itachi that Sasuke was bragging about._

Everything that she had in her was going into the tree, all of the pain that her old team had put her through. Sasuke, Naruto, even her sensei were all her energy for working harder, for impressing Kabuto, her new sensei. He was the only one who she could trust now, the only one who saw her strength. He was the only sense of protection she needed.

"_When we get out of this, I'm not going to save you; I'm going to destroy you. You're going to die for what you've done to me."_

Itachi had threatened to kill her, a threat that she knew he was going to uphold. She could tell by the way he looked over at her. Throughout the time she had been with him, Itachi always seemed like he cared about her, thinking that she had potential. Yet in the end he turned on her, just as he was going to turn on Sasuke.

"_I don't want him to forgive me; I don't even want him to acknowledge me. If I walk through life alone then so be it. It's best that I'm alone."_

She could already see the boy that she was falling in love with slip away from her. Sasuke was stuck in a web that she wasn't sure he could get out of. There was only a minimal amount of time before she knew he was going to be in too deep to be saved from himself. As she sat here slacking there was a world going on out there, a world that Sasuke was getting stuck in.

"_He's a part of me; he's the reason why I live. Isn't that what love is, the person that you can't live without, the person where if they ever died they would end your life forever?"_

Sakura closed her eyes as she threw the senbon, letting out a low cry as she fell to her knees. "Damn it!" she pushed her fist to the ground not looking at Kabuto who was behind her. _No matter what I do, I'm just in the way; I'm always in the way…_

She closed her eyes tightly she thought of all that she had done to make this all become true. All of the pain that those who were close to her were going through because of what was happening in Konoha. Kakashi, Ino, Naruto, Sasuke, all of them were in pain right now and it was all due to Itachi and Kabuto's infiltration. If she ever saw any of them again, she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to face them. She wasn't the same girl as she was before. She was different.

"_I know that if you do something stupid, I'm not going to allow it to ruin my life, nor am I even going to let you get that far Use your head, swallow your pride and come here and take the damn forehead protector!"_

Ino had tried to stop her. She was the only one there that night that would have stopped her, and it was working until Kabuto showed up. Watching as Kabuto beat her best friend up wrenched at her heart. This was what she wanted; this was the path that she had to take to save her friends from the darkness, even if she had to get a taste herself. This was the only way.

"_I'm the nine-tails; I'm nothing more to anyone else but that monster. I thought that maybe Sasuke would understand and to my surprise he does. He's trying to protect me from that dark fate, and I respect him for that, but… I can't live like this Sakura."_

She closed her eyes remembering the pain that Naruto was going through. He was the reason why she was here in the first place. Every senbon that she threw was for his own safety, every time she drew Uchiha blood, it was all for him. She had to think realistically, even though Naruto was nothing more than annoying, throughout the whole adventure he tried to be by her side. She pushed him away. Now she was going to pull him closer.

Getting off of her feet she pulled out a kunai, attacking the tree watching Kabuto through the corner of her eye. He was smiling at her again looking at her deeply. He had taken an interest that she thought only Kakashi had taken in her when he used to tell her what she was good accompanied with a pat on the head. Kabuto was different though, there was no one else to give praise to. She was his only disciple.

"Sakura," Kabuto sighed as he walked closer. "Okay, I think you're ready to fight some actual people," he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I want you to turn around and attack me…" he smiled gently. "Trust me; Itachi isn't going to be like a tree, he's going to be moving if he sees you coming at him…"

She looked over her shoulder. "And if I hurt you."

"If you hurt me, then I know you have no problem with Sasuke," he pulled out a kunai. "No come on, Sakura. I'm not going to get mad if you hurt me…" he chuckled almost silently. "We need to work on your taijutsu; all genjutsu isn't going to work on Itachi Uchiha, not if he activates his mangekyou sharingan."

"And if he tries to use that technique that he took my sensei out with?" Sakura asked. "What do I do then?"

Kabuto shook his head. "Don't let him. Try to wear his chakra down so he can't do anything of that level. I must tell you, his chakra control is flawless," he took a deep breath. "But then again, you've potential to be a strong ninja; you too have excellent chakra control."

"What about Sasuke?" Sakura asked looking into Kabuto's eyes. "Next time I meet him, what will he be like? Will he be that much stronger? Will I be able to truly take him out? Or will he be like that brother of his?"

"He could be like Itachi," Kabuto sighed. "Itachi is in charge of his training. We're going to see water techniques, stronger fire techniques, medical ninjutsu, higher speeds, and weapon techniques. There's a lot that he could teach him, and I have no doubt that he is going to perfect most of those deadly techniques. Itachi was never a person who goes into a battle thinking to spare his opponent; he only spares the ones who aren't worthy enough to die by his hand…"

Sakura looked at the ground. "Am I worthy?"

"He put a threat on your life," Kabuto answered in a low whisper. "If worst comes to worst I'm going to have to let Sasuke crash and burn and take you and Naruto to the Sound Village. Itachi wants to kill him… Sasuke's life will not be harmed. Sasuke still has his uses. As long as he's useful to Itachi he's not going to kill him…"

Sakura tightened her grip on the kunai as she looked at Kabuto. "So come on, if you're going to train me, I want you to be more like Itachi," she took a step forward focusing her chakra into the weapon. "Run away if you want to live!"

She ran toward Kabuto, throwing the kunai at him, watching as he dodged the blow. Everything had to be perfect if she was stuck with either of them. Especially Sasuke, she knew that Itachi would kill her almost instantly, toying with her mentally. The younger Uchiha on the other hand would never let that happen, he would toy with her to no end, she wasn't even sure if she could hurt the one that she loved. She still loved him after all of this time.

"_Sakura, forget all of our past experiences. Forget the way that I treated you. It was all a lie; I was never able to say all of my feelings for you. I was always afraid that he was going to take you away from me. He took everything else."_

She closed her eyes as she thought of him. Sasuke did like her if only just a little. She could tell by the way that he screamed at her to stop when she was running toward Itachi. He knew that if she got too close Itachi would destroy her. That's why he threw himself in front of the attack. The Sasuke that she loved was still in there.

"I'm going to save you, even if I have to give up my life," Sakura whispered as she pulled out another kunai scanning the area for Kabuto.

-----

"Come on," Sasuke breathed, pushing more chakra into his hands taking deep breaths. He looked at the cut that he had made on his leg, the bloodied dagger discarded to the side. "I can almost do this…"

Itachi sighed from the corner. "Sasuke, if you only focus on the pain you'll never get anything done. For the technique to work you have to keep a clear mind, otherwise you're only going to hurt yourself. Mystical Palms cannot only repair tissue; it could also destroy it as well…"

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. _I have to live up to my promise. I'm still thinking about it. If I kill Itachi, is that going to resolve anything? I mean he wanted it all along. With this technique I could make it so he would never be able to die because of me. If I wasn't strong enough to destroy his life, then I'm not going to let anyone else do it for me._

He tried harder feeling the flesh start to form back together a little. It hurt to do this jutsu; he could feel his body getting weaker every time he tried to do this technique. He felt as though he should give up right there, but he couldn't.

Sakura was still out there. She was under Kabuto's wing, on her way to the Sound Village where that old man lived. Sasuke cringed at the thought of that man, what kind of sick man wants to take over the body of a twelve-year-old? Besides, all the old man had to offer was power. Why would he seek him for power when he couldn't even beat Itachi himself?

"Sasuke," Itachi started as he looked at the glow. "Something's on your mind."

"I have a lot of things on my mind," the younger boy answered as he looked at the wound on his leg. "We only have a minimal amount of time before they try to take Naruto, don't we? That means that we're going to have to work twice as hard."

"Sasuke," Itachi started. "They're the underdogs, we have more experience then them. You have me, Sasuke, and I was part of the Akatsuki, one of their prized members to be honest. If I could take them out, then I would be able to take that weakling Orochimaru and his lackey Kabuto out no problem at all," he looked down at his struggling younger brother. "As for you, I think that you can take them out, you're with me…" he leaned against the wall with a sigh. "And as long as we're together we're untouchable."

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke felt the wound close more. He had to master this jutsu as fast as he could, even if he would never be able to sleep again. Itachi was going to breathe again. He wasn't going to be in that pain anymore, not until Sasuke was ready to lose him. Then again, would he ever be ready? Itachi was his life, without him, what would be his purpose of living?

Everything revolved around his brother. Everything that he did was always for him, even if Sasuke hated to admit it. Even now when he thought his life couldn't get much worse, he turned to him of all people for comfort. On that path he only found that he was the one who was able to break him open and show everyone what his brother was really like, the Itachi that he had created when they were younger, that was the real Itachi. The other one was nothing but a front to prove that their cousin was wrong about him. That was nothing but to measure his capacity, how far he could go. Sasuke wasn't one of those people who had to fall, and it made him glad that he was spared, no matter how disgusting that was.

The wound closed, Sasuke's eyes widened. "Holy shit…" he let a smile roll across his face as he looked up at his brother. "I did it!"

Itachi shook his head, his eyes full of disbelief. _In less than a week, he was able to perform a technique that it took me forever to do. Maybe Sasuke's a natural for medical ninjutsu? _He smiled back. "That's amazing, Sasuke. You were able to close a wound. But you still need more time on it until you are able to heal more complex injuries," he grasped the side of his chest where he was hit. "Vital organs are different than a cut on your leg, no matter how deep it is."

Sasuke sighed. "I know I still have a long way to go," he looked up at him. "If I want to amount to anything in the life of a ninja."

Itachi sighed as he stood up. "Well do you want to continue your work on medical ninjutsu or do you want to learn how to improve the attacks that you already know?"

Sasuke looked over at him. "I want you to do everything in your power to help me save my friends. I know you don't make it a habit of doing other people's requests, but please, as my older brother, I want you to help me become stronger," he sighed. "You promised me when I was eight that you would show me some new techniques."

Itachi snickered. "I'm amazed that you still remember that," he looked back at Sasuke. "Come with me," he beckoned for him. "There is on element that you haven't learned that I think it's about time you did…"

The younger brother stood up watching him summon him. "I'm not going to let you poke me on the forehead," he walked past him through the door. "I'm not that much of an idiot…"

As he walked by Itachi shrugged. "I guess he really has grown since then," he turned to follow him. _It seemed like only yesterday I was in this house, this house that I once called home. With our parents, _he winced thinking of them; his body was sore as he focused on the thoughts of their father. _If he could call that man a father. I never had a father, I never had a family. All I had was Sasuke; he was the only one who mattered. He's the only one who lived._

He watched as Sasuke waited at the door. "Where are we going to go now, Itachi? And what exactly are you going to teach me?"

"It's a surprise," Itachi answered flatly.

A scoff was heard as he finished saying that. "I don't like the surprises that you give me, Itachi. I don't like surprises in general, why don't you stop being a prick and tell me what we're doing."

"You went to the Land of Waves right?" Itachi asked looking back at him watching Sasuke nod gently his eyes darting away from him. "No doubt you ran into some Mist Ninja, right? These are the techniques that they are known for: water techniques. Did you copy any?"

Sasuke shook his head. "That was the mission when I first activated my sharingan. I was knocked out for most of the battle after that," he looked into his brother's eyes. "And then the next thing that happened to me is you show up and here I am walking through the woods with you."

Itachi continued to walk forward. "This is the way that Shisui and I used to sneak through to get to the Nakano River," he looked back at Sasuke. "You didn't honestly think that there was only one way to get to the river's edge."

Sasuke closed his eyes as they continued to walk. Water techniques, he had seen Kakashi do them from time to time. That didn't explain how Itachi knew them. Did he go to the Land of Waves too? Itachi seemed to know everything that Kakashi did, that's what made him a better, more skilled ninja.

They finally reached it the river's edge. Sasuke looked at the water; this was going to be his weapon for the time being. The water was going to be his sword and shield. Looking at the look on Itachi's face, this was going to be a lot more difficult than all of the fire techniques that they had mastered.

"Water is more malleable than fire, fire jutsu are created by inhaling chakra and exhaling it quickly. This is different; the chakra that you exude goes through the water and bent into almost deadly attack," Itachi took a deep breath moving his hands to extend in front of him. He started to make hand signs at a slightly slower speed than usual so that Sasuke could see them, his eyes focused on the water. "Water Style: Water Fang Bullet."

Sasuke looked at the water starting to ripple, three water spikes came into the middle of the circle, water splashing from the attack. He could feel the water splash up against his face as the final blow came.

"Amazing," Sasuke breathed wiping the water off of his chin. "What other water techniques do you know?" he looked over at him happily. "Do you know how to make a water clone?"

Itachi sighed as he looked straight at the water and then back at him. "Sasuke, this element is a lot more difficult than fire. You have to work hard at it, just like you have to with all of my other techniques. I know that you've been working on some. Are you still trying to figure out to do the clone technique?"

Sasuke nodded. "I'm going to get that justu down, even if it kills me."

"Good, I see you having potential in that technique," Itachi answered looking back at the water of the Nakano River_. I never thought that Sasuke would have such profusion in chakra. He might no be perfect, but he can control it so thoroughly that medical ninjutsu is simple. He's also got a great hold on using that dagger, I can tell by all of our other training exercises. Sasuke has matured in ways that no one thought he would and it was all thanks to me._

Sasuke looked at the water and then up at Itachi. "I want you to teach me more," he ran a hand through the liquid. "How much sunlight do we have left?"

"You don't need sunlight to do water style," the older Uchiha stated. "We can stay out here all night…" he ran a hand through his ponytail a smirk gracing his lips. "Sasuke, I told you that I was going to get you stronger than Kakashi ever would. I'm going to make that a reality. I'm going to make you stronger than you ever thought you would be."

Sasuke stood up looking back at his brother. "Your call, Itachi…"

A sigh passed Itachi's lips as he opened his eyes looking down at the sun reflecting off of the water. Everything that he hoped would happen was here. All of the pain that he had gone through all of the years couldn't be matched by anyone but this boy. This was the moment that they had been waiting for the moment where Sasuke's potential would be unleashed.

"Now…" Itachi breathed starting to make hand signs. "We begin the water mastery training right now."

-----

Kabuto looked around at the fallen trees, gripping at his blood soaked arm. Sakura had proven her worth more than he ever thought that she would. The strength of her attacks, the murderous intent deep within her eyes as she darted at him. She was the only one who was going to make this whole plan work out.

_The Akatsuki is going to be pleased that I'm going to be taking care of their loose ends. They might even let me keep my life, _he looked down at Sakura. _The hate in this girl's heart, the way that her eyes burn as Itachi's name is spoken, she's even more embittered toward him than Sasuke himself. _He crouched next to her running a hand through her pink hair, she was worn out her body was limp up against the ground. _She didn't give up for second, absolute perfection._

He had to take her back to the Sound Village. There was promise within her, accompanied by a strong hate for Konoha as well as Itachi Uchiha, everything that someone on their side was going to need to win. Sasuke Uchiha no longer mattered; he was too far gone to bring him over to Orochimaru.

Sakura Haruno would be a great follower, her medical ninjutsu techniques would never be able to beat out the techniques of the sharingan, the Uchiha clan's kekkei genkai, but it was going to have to do. All of that clan was dead, Itachi had killed them all off, except Sasuke, but he was under that man's wing. The next time Kabuto would see him; there was no telling how strong he had become.

He looked deeper at her neck smiling as he imagined what Orochimaru would do after he heard how much progress she had made. He never got to sink his teeth into Sasuke, but now he would get the next best thing. He would have to give up his dreams of the sharingan. Kabuto knew it was impossible. Sasuke was out of reach.

He heard her start to come to as he held onto her lifting her body off of the ground. "Kabuto? Is that you? Where are you taking me?"

"I'm taking you back to the inn," he answered, holding onto her tighter continuing to walk. "We're not going to risk you getting hurt before we take Naruto and run to the Sound Village. No matter who they bring, if it's the two of them, or just Itachi. No matter what Sakura we cannot afford to fail. I put too much on this mission to lose it all now. We need to rest up if we're going to get anything done."

Sakura looked into his eyes. "Kabuto," she took a deep breath. "Is there anyway that I can save my teammates before it gets to be too late?"

"Naruto will be saved," Kabuto answered. "I can't make any promises about Sasuke. But you have to stop thinking about all of that; you have to start thinking ahead to the future that we're working so hard to protect. Lord Orochimaru can make all of your dreams come true…"

He smiled as he looked down at her. _This could be the next potential container that Lord Orochimaru wants to have. She hates and has a hunger for power to destroy the one that had wronged her friends. If I can augment that the next time we meet Itachi, there is not telling what she can do. Looks like you're going to help us again Itachi, something that you were always good at. Only this time you aren't going to have that lucky streak of yours on your side. I'm going to win._

Sakura smiled as she looked up at him. "We'll continue later on. We're going to win this all, Kabuto," she closed her eyes her smile broadening. "I'm most definitely going to get Sasuke back…"

"I know you will," Kabuto answered. _That is, if we can still get to him. If we can, there's no telling his strength. Itachi is a strong influence too strong for us to fight. _He continued to walk forward. _But at least I have Sakura as a peace offering._

-----

She held on tightly to the forehead protector looking out the window, sitting on Naruto's bed. Nothing was going the way that she wanted it to go. They had just become friends again; it seemed like only yesterday when Sakura was hugging her in the hospital waiting room when she heard about what happened to Asuma. That was changed the second that Sakura started to go missing. Now she was gone.

"Sakura," she breathed as she tightened her grip on the forehead protector, a tear falling from her eye. She was never one to cry, she was never one to let all of her emotions out so readily, she wasn't like Sakura.

"_You think that you can stop me? You accepted the fact that this village is going to live in fear. You don't know my pain, you don't know what it's like to lose both of your teammates and no matter how far you reach for them they'll never come back to you."_

She curled up tighter as she thought about it. Sakura was the one that she thought she could do anything around and never seem like she was unintelligent. She thought that she was the one that Sakura had aspired to be like. They were best friends only splitting up because of a boy, a boy that she knew liked neither of them.

The door opened as she looked over in the corner of the room. "Hey," it was Shikamaru. "You want to come out with us? We got Naruto to finally leave this dump and go out to the real world," he looked at the tears that were streaming down her face. "Are you alright? You're crying."

She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'm not crying, Shikamaru," she looked down at the forehead protector. "I was just thinking…"

He sat in front of her looking into her eyes. "Ino," he took a deep breath. "I know that you're upset that the Hokage won't let us go after her, even if we did have jounin. There was one who offered to take us, Kakashi Hatake said that he would, but given his condition… he's in rough shape. I heard from Gai that he has trouble even breathing. I think it was valiant of him though. He was going to risk his life to bring Sakura back to Konoha."

Ino looked out the window, taking a deep breath. "Shikamaru," she started, looking over at him. "I wonder that if I was a better friend to her to begin with if she wouldn't have left. Is it my fault that she's doing this? This isn't like her, forehead girl doesn't take risks, I'm the one who takes the risks."

"These are the days when everyone hurts," Shikamaru answered, looking into her eyes. "Only a few days before he got injured, I talked to Asuma-sensei. He told me that I was going to make it, that I was going to be able to go on with you and Chouji and lead this team to prosperity," he closed his own dark eyes, trying to fight a tear that was starting to roll down his cheek. "All of this time before all of the madness happened… in the hospital I was trying to act like it didn't bother me, like I could be a strong ninja," he took a deep breath. "Now I understand just how insignificant we are, and it's a pain in my ass. All we wanted was to restore honor to our team…"

"Shikamaru," Ino soothed, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to get the power that we need back. We're going to amount to something no matter how hard we have to try to do it. We're going to have our turn to shine even if no one takes this team seriously."

He shook his head as he looked down at the forehead protector. "We're running out of time. While we sit here thinking of what to do next, the whole village is in an uproar. Are you sure that you can't get in touch with Sasuke?"

She shook her head. "No one can," she looked up at him. "You don't think that he went after her do you?"

"_Obsession will be your downfall, the more that you feel that you want something that is unfeasible the more your judgment becomes clouded, it's a trial by fire that makes us all finally realize what we are destined to have."_

"Shikamaru, do you think that Sasuke would do something like that?" she asked. "He told me once that the more someone wants something, the more judgment gets clouded. Obsession isn't going to help him."

"You think he's obsessed with saving her?" Shikamaru asked. "He already has a goal, a goal that he has been trying to fulfill for years now. He's not going to put that on hold to save some girl that he doesn't even care about."

Ino closed her eyes as she faced the window. She thought about all that Sakura had been hiding from her. The girl that she thought was her friend back talked to the enemy behind her, the man whose blade ran through her sensei's body. Sakura hid that she knew Itachi, she hid that she tried to heal the wounds that Sasuke had given him. Now she was running off with a man who was not him, someone who clearly opposed him.

"Where is Naruto now?" Ino asked, looking over at Shikamaru.

"We dropped him off with Iruka-sensei for a while," he answered. "He's going to stay there for a while. Iruka-sensei was more than welcome to take care of him for the time being. It was a nice reunion between the two of them. Chouji decided to stay to help him settle in for the night. I came back to see if you're going to be alright…"

She looked up at him. "That's very sweet of you, Shikamaru," rested her back on the bed, pushing her ponytail off of her shoulder. "So are we going to be taking care of Naruto's place while he's gone?"

Shikamaru nodded as he lay next to her. "Yeah, we're going to be here all night all alone," he closed his eyes. "But I'm beat; I think I'm going to hit the hay. How about you?"

She nodded moving closer to him. "Yeah," a sigh passed her lips. "Thank you, Shikamaru; I'm glad that I can still count on someone in this village. I'm just glad it's one of my teammates…" she looked up into his eyes. "I'll look for Sasuke tomorrow. What are you going to do?"

"I'll probably go see Asuma. He's getting out soon," Shikamaru answered softly. "I also have some questions about any person that Sakura might have left with. If you can get Sasuke, you can get him to go in and ask Kakashi the same question. We can get Sakura back in no time at all."

Ino smiled. _Everything's going my way, I can still save her._

-----

"Water Style: Water Fang Bullet," Sasuke breathed. The sun was starting to fall from the sky, the day leaving them quickly. He had been trying water techniques all day. Itachi was right, they did deplete chakra. Without Itachi right behind him, he would have given up right now. Everything that Sasuke wanted to be was back there. He wanted Itachi's skills; he wanted everything that made Itachi amazing. He wanted to be like him, he wanted that level of power.

As the water splashed in his face, he fell to his knees taking deep heavy breaths looking back at Sasuke. "I can't do it anymore, Itachi," he coughed lightly. "I don't think any normal human could."

Itachi sighed, walking over to him placing a hand on his head. "You did an amazing job today, Sasuke. If you put that much into it everyday there's no telling how strong you're going to get…"

Sasuke felt as the fingers weaved through his hair. "Do I have to do that every single day? I don't think I'm going to last much longer if I do. I get the feeling that you aren't trying to train me, you're trying to kill me."

"No," Itachi answered lightly. "I have no reason to kill you, Sasuke. I just think that you're behind in training. If just goes to show you I should have spent more time when we were young helping you. Look at what I've made you become."

Sasuke closed his eyes as he thought about everything. He knew why Itachi was giving him this power. Vengeance, Itachi was helping him avenge that damned clan. He was teaching how to be powerful so one day they could face each other fairly in a battle. Itachi lived solely for Sasuke's dream.

"_Whatever you do, remember the pain that I have given you and then see if your dream is worth it."_

No matter how much he told him to give up, it was only to fuel him. Why? Why was Itachi doing this? He didn't care about what happened to him. That's why the day in the woods he would have taken a hit for him. He had wanted to die for the longest time. That was his purpose for living.

"You did well, Sasuke," Itachi repeated as he took his hand away. "Tomorrow we'll work more on your medical ninjutsu. You seem to be a natural at it. I never thought you'd be this good already. Anyway," he took a deep breath pulling Sasuke up from the ground, "we have a lot of work ahead of us."

"_Us_?" Sasuke asked, looking at his brother. "You're already perfect; you don't need to work any harder to improve yourself, Itachi."

"I know," the older ninja answered. "But you don't expect to get better without me helping you along the way," he chuckled lightly, "do you?"

_He's laughing because he feels his end is closer. He makes me sick. Death over sticking up for himself, _Sasuke looked at the water. _You're worth more than that, Itachi; you're worth more than a dying ember._

He moved to hug his brother tightly, burying his face in his chest. He tightened his arms around him tightly, trying to conceal the tears that were starting to fall from his eyes. All of this time, Itachi had been trying to destroy himself; he had been nothing but a pawn in this game.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked, looking down at his brother. "Are you alright?" he felt wetness on his shirt. "You're crying, Sasuke," held onto him, returning the embrace. "What's wrong? I haven't seen you get like this since you were a child."

Sasuke closed his eyes hugging him tightly. "Itachi… brother…"

"I'll take you home," Itachi answered, taking his hand starting to take him through the woods. "You're going to get some sleep tonight."

Feeling his brother's hand trembling against his Sasuke took a deep breath. _Maybe he is different than that Itachi I saw that night. I guess only time will tell me what my brother is really like._

"Itachi…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **This is the last chapters that have nothing to do with the real storyline, now it's the countdown to the end (I think we have like fourteen more chapters...). With that said, you all know that it is almost over, my goal is to have it done by July 23rd (Sasuke's birthday) I would also like to wish Itachi a happy birthday tomorrow on June 9th. Anyway what did you all think? Good? Bad? Still waiting for answers for your millions of questions? Honesty is always my policy. 


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own anything...

**Warnings: **This chapter contains incest, coarse language, blood/violence, references to sexual content, yaoi, slight yuri, OOC, and the canon is still gone (but you can see some of it). This chapter is also long and there are a lot of errors in here and I know it (my mind is somewhere else right now.)

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, some SasuSaku and SasuIno slight KabuSaku, slight ItaIno, traces of ShikaIno, and a pinch of InoSaku

* * *

His body was starting to gain relief from all of the pains that he experienced from all of the training. He never thought Itachi could be this rough. Then again it showed a side of him that Sasuke had never seen before. Through the icepacks and the massages, he could finally see that the point was not to kill him; it was to augment his power. Itachi's life revolved around Sasuke. 

"How are you feeling, Sasuke?" Itachi asked walking into the room, a look of concern on his face. He moved closer to him. "Are you still in pain?"

Sasuke looked up at him. His brother was changing again, he was starting to worry, his hands shaking every time that he held him, fearing that he was going to crush Sasuke like a porcelain doll. Itachi was starting to treat him like he was the most valuable treasure that he had ever possessed.

"A little," he winced, starting to sit up feeling Itachi's hand on his head.

It was trembling again. At first Sasuke thought it was all of the alcohol that Itachi had been drinking, or the times when Itachi used to sit outside thinking of Shisui again, looking mindlessly at the ring on his finger. It wasn't like him to be this worried; he was supposed to be the one out of the two of them who was controlled. Nothing was allowed to faze him.

He sighed taking his hand away. "You did well this week, Sasuke," he smiled lightly at his younger brother. "I'd say that you deserve a day off," he heard the disproval roll off of Sasuke's lips, leaking through his eyes. "You'll get the technique down soon enough," he grasped his side. "I have faith in you…"

Looking at the way that Itachi eyes were full of concern, the sounds of his coughing forever singed in his mind, he knew what the shaking was: it was out of pain. For the past few days everything was getting worse than he ever thought it could be, he could still see the stains of blood through his brother's lips.

Sasuke shook his head taking his brother's hand. "Why can't you heal yourself? You did fine healing me in the woods," he clutched on tighter. "I don't think I'll ever get the jutsu right. I'm running out of time, Itachi," he took a deep breath. "I can feel it in your hands now, the shaking, you're in pain yet you hide it from me…"

The older ninja shook his head lightly. "It's not so bad," he clutched onto his side tighter his eyes closing. "I'm not trying to hide it from you, Sasuke. I know that you understand that it hurts," he sighed painfully. "What you don't understand is what this actually feels like," he coughed lightly.

"Are you going to be alright?" Sasuke asked, gently moving his hand to wipe the blood away from Itachi's lips. _This whole week, he's been barely able to breathe, the blood is getting worse, yet he's making this all seem like it's nothing at all. Why is he being like this?_

"Sasuke," the older Uchiha stated, grasping his younger brother's hand taking it from his bloodied lips to see the fingertips, the scarlet liquid running to the center of the palm. "You don't have to worry about me; you just have to worry about your training."

Shaking his head Sasuke started to climb out of bed. "I've had it with this," he made it to his feet where he started to walk out the door. "I'm going to perfect my medical techniques. I've spent enough time sitting on my ass while I watch you die," he shook his head. "I'm the one who did that to you…"

"Don't blame yourself…" Itachi hissed lightly.

"I wish you would have punished me more than you had," Sasuke turned to see his brother. "I wish that you did the same to me so we could feel the same pain. You've been hurt so much by all of this," he stopped talking as he started walking down the hallway leaving Itachi behind. "I'm going to continue my medical training; you lie down for a while."

Itachi looked out the window, his eyes then traveling to glance at his brother walking away from him, his voice low and struggling. "You aren't the same Sasuke from hospital, why the change?"

Sasuke stopped again barely away from the door. "Because you aren't the Itachi who attacked me down by the river…" he continued to walk away from the room, hearing Itachi cough again, hearing the splash of blood against the floor. _I promise I'm going to make things right… even if it kills me._

-----

She opened her eyes feeling Shikamaru's body right next to hers. It was nice to have him there when she was feeling like that. Through all of the pain that she was going through, she forgot that Shikamaru was hurting too. His hurt was deeper than hers was; he had lost everything in a single movement of a blade. All of the tears that he had wanted to cry were robbed from him; he was starting to have to assume a role of responsibility that a twelve-year-old should never have to.

"Shikamaru," she breathed as she rolled out of the bed, looking around the room. She had a lot that she had to do, finding Sasuke wasn't exactly a job that anyone would gladly take. He was deep within the village hidden from everyone else; he had gone off on his own like he had lost all faith in Konoha, like he was going to turn out like Sakura.

No, Sasuke was different. Sasuke was stronger than that. Life had gotten him down multiple times, never once did he feel the need to stop walking forward. Even the times when his brother had tortured him he didn't stop. She met Itachi on one occasion, but he didn't seem as bad as everyone said he was. He spoke politely to her, almost apologizing for what he did to her sensei. He was the source that she might need; the man that Sakura went off with was not Itachi Uchiha. She knew Itachi Uchiha. That didn't mean that Itachi didn't have any information on the mysterious kidnapper.

Itachi was evil, evil people stuck together; they usually knew what was going on in even rivaling organizations. Her hunger for information on Sakura was growing by the minute; she was no longer able to think about anything else. Her friend's safety was first.

"_Because… you were there for me when I needed you, and all of this time I never realized how much I was hurting you. Our rivalry made us lose our mind and we became worse off because of it."_

Ino shook her head as she started walking toward the door hearing the sheets rustle behind her. "Awake, Shikamaru?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

The boy yawned lightly. "Barely," he moved closer to the bed, closing his eyes. "Where are you going anyway? It's still too early to start the day. Do you have an important engagement?"

"I'm looking for Sasuke," Ino answered lightly, walking toward the door. "The sooner I find him, the sooner I can get some information about the man that Sakura went off with," she looked back at him. "I don't know where he is, but when I find him, I'll call you."

Shikamaru nodded shakily as he rested his head back onto the pillow. "Do whatever you want, Ino. I trust you, the sooner you get the information you need, the sooner that we can bring an argument up to the Hokage. We can save Sakura from the darkness and prove that Team 10 is not a bunch of cowards."

She nodded as she opened the door locking it behind her as she placed the set of keys that Naruto had made her into her shuriken holster. She was going to make this all right again. Sakura might have left, but there was a reason why she let Ino slow her down. She wanted someone to prove that Konoha was still a trustworthy place.

_I don't know who that sick guy is who picked you up, but I'm going to destroy him, Sakura, I'm going to bring you back, _she continued to walk through the village, rain starting to fall down on her. She was going to find Sasuke.

-----

Kabuto looked at the liquid in the vials in front of him, the poison inside of them calling to him. This was the poison that he had made to take out Naruto to take him back to the Akatsuki unharmed. It wasn't like the poison that he had injected in mass quantities inside of Itachi's leg, this was a weaker poison, yet the affects would knock the victim out almost instantaneously.

The day was drawing near when he would need to make his way to the Sound Village to show them all he was capable of doing the task that he was asked to. The other components were impossible now. He couldn't bring Sasuke to Orochimaru and anymore, nor could he kill Itachi, they were too strong foe him now. He had to avoid them at all costs, something that was impossible now that he had taken Sakura to be his partner. Sasuke was going to come after him and he'd bring his brother along.

Suddenly the door opened and his attention turned to the girl who was walking through. "Good day, Sakura…"

"Hey," she responded, brushing her pink hair out of her face. "Still working on that potion?" she asked walking toward him. "Kabuto, don't you think that you work too hard and you need to take a break?"

A break wasn't an option; it hadn't been for a while. Ever since he took off the robe, he was done taking breaks; he was through with staying in the shadows. Itachi knew his every move and he wouldn't rest until it was all stopped. He was going to use all of his power to make both him and Sakura pay for what happened in the woods. The sight of Orochimaru's dream container bleeding severely on the ground was still fresh in his mind; he was going to get punished for that. He could already feel the flames of his wrath.

"I can't," Kabuto answered as he looked at the vials. "Do you want to learn more techniques?"

She shook her head. "I feel comfortable with the taijutsu, and I'm starting to get a hang of the Temple of Nirvana technique. As for medical techniques, I think that I got it to a point where I can be considered unmatched. You taught me well, Kabuto."

Kabuto took a deep breath. "You understand that Sasuke is training under Itachi, right? Itachi is an amazing ninja, Sakura; he's outmatched your former sensei and made him seem like a novice. He makes me seem like a beginner, but that doesn't mean that we won't save Naruto…"

Sakura looked out the window and then at Kabuto. "I know the urgency, if worst comes to worst we get Naruto and we save him from Itachi before he gets hurt. Sasuke might be lost, but he and that bastard Itachi deserve each other. If I ever get the chance to see that bastard again, I'll rip him to shreds."

Kabuto scoffed. "Don't go looking for the chance to fight him. Itachi isn't one to go easy on someone who has wronged him. You stabbed his brother in the chest; he's letting you draw your last breaths before he destroys you. He already has a problem with me along with all of the Sound Village."

She closed her eyes, walking toward the door again. "I'm leaving; I have business in the village to tend to. And if I find Itachi or Sasuke Uchiha," she snickered lightly at the thought. "They'll be dead…"

Kabuto shook his head as Sakura walked out the door; she hated both of the Uchiha brothers more than any girl ever should. It was a rush, a high, perhaps after all of this Orochimaru wasn't going to be so mad at him. Sakura was more than an accomplice now. She was collateral.

Taking her to his master would prove that he could find something to make Sasuke come to him to save her. It was all becoming a beautiful picture of the future for him. It was bait that neither of them could resist; he could lead Itachi to his death and Sasuke into permanent enslavement. That was unless he would face an _accident _along the way to the Sound Village. He had to get him sooner than he expected if he wanted to avoid the outcome that Itachi had been striving for.

The second that happened, everything was going to be ruined. If Sasuke was able to transform himself into a second Itachi, Sakura would surely die as would Kabuto. Itachi's abilities were barely even matched with any of the techniques in the Sound ninja's arsenal. The true strength of the Uchiha clan almost destructive, he would make Kabuto look a like a child yet again.

"You think that you're so great don't you, Itachi?" Kabuto asked himself as he took out some clean senbon. "You're not going to be so cocky when I get some of this toxin in your veins," he chuckled as he held up a needle. "You're never going to be able to stand again if I get this into you. You're going to give me the struggle that I always wanted to get from you," he closed his eyes. "I'm going to take care of you and that brat that you call a brother in one single blow. I'll show you what the Uchiha clan has become because you spared him."

Kabuto threw the senbon across the room lodging it into the wall smiling as he watched the poison drip to the ground. "Next time I see you, Itachi, your head is mine, and this time that twerp won't be able to stop me…"

He stood up adjusting his glasses as he remembered the day when he first showed Itachi his identity, the day when he told him what he really wanted. The look of fear in the younger ninja's eyes still fresh in his mind as he licked his lips imagining the sweet taste of his pain.

Kabuto laughed as he remembered those trembling lips up against his. Itachi's pain was his thrill. These days were going to taste so sweet. He was going to get his one wish, Itachi was going to writhe.

-----

Ino walked down the streets looking from right to left, feeling the rain hit up against her harder than she thought that it would. She hated the weather these days, it was so gloomy. It was like the sky was trying to wash all of their problems away, even though the village had so many. Sasuke and Sakura both had their scars, and Naruto wasn't exactly untouched. Team 7 was never going to be the same.

_Where are you, Sasuke? _He had been gone so long; it was starting to worry her. Naruto said that he was supposed to call him, but he never did. It had been over a week since that day. Everything was starting to break right before her eyes; she was seeing everything that she was adapted to just sporadically change. Nothing was like it was before, and nothing was going to be like that again. Not until she found Sasuke, he was the only one who could save Sakura right now, the only one with the power to make her listen. Sakura found comfort in his presence.

She continued to walk forward, pushing the moist blond locks out of her face; she was going to catch a cold at this rate. Chills ran down her spine as she continued to walk. This was not the time when she should be alone, not with all of this chaos.

"_But what are twelve-year-old girls doing walking home alone? Don't you know it's dangerous out here? You never know when you'll run into a criminal."_

She continued to walk down the street praying that she would be able to find him wherever he was. Sasuke was never this hard to find, he was always with his team, they all seemed like they were friends, but now they were nothing but enemies trying to destroy one another in anyway that they found possible. It was twisted.

"Damn it," she whispered as she started to slow down, wrapping her arms tightly around herself trying to block out the cold that was threatening to stop her quest. She couldn't give up now, not now that she finally got the strength to go after her. There was no way that she was going to lose to her now; she promised herself that she wouldn't, no matter what the cost.

"Look at you now," a voice behind her stated with a laugh. "Ino Yamanaka, one of the best female genin that came out of our class," the footsteps came closer. "My one and only rival… precious little Ino-pig, out here alone in the rain, you should be careful, you never know when Itachi Uchiha's going to come after you…"

Ino shook her head as she tried to fight the urges to cry, the urges to walk up to her best friend and beg for an answer for all of her questions. No, she wasn't as weak as Sakura Haruno; she wasn't going to break down just because she was back. They still had a score to settle after what Sakura did to her. She abandoned her and knocked her out so she couldn't stop her before she threw her life away.

"Sakura," Ino whispered, looking back at her best friend, but what she saw was not Sakura Haruno.

Everything seemed different, her long pink hair pulled back into a ponytail, her green eyes fierce, almost empty of all of the joy that she once held so dear to her heart. Ino less than a month, she had seen her best friend become something that she wasn't, she was turning into a monster.

"Ino," Sakura started, walking toward her. "It's been a while since I saw you. Why are you walking around alone in the rain? I thought you only went with your two chumps," she snickered. "You're looking for me, aren't you?"

The other kunoichi didn't answer the question looking down at the moistening ground. Her fists tightened as she tried to avoid Sakura's glance. This wasn't her, this wasn't Sakura. Ino knew this wasn't the girl that she had given that ribbon to, this isn't the girl that she had once tried to make feel better about herself, this wasn't the girl that she was fighting Sasuke Uchiha with. This was someone else.

"Silence says everything," Sakura continued, her face changing to hate as she saw the look on Ino's face. "I know who you're looking for… you're looking for that bastard Sasuke Uchiha; you think that he can save me don't you?"

Ino closed her eyes. "Sasuke still cares about you, and Naruto does too. It's hurting the both of them that you left. I don't know what happened to you, I don't know what happened to the love that you had for Sasuke? Did you forget about your team? Did you forget about me and how I still care about what you do?"

"It was all easy to forget," Sakura continued. "Especially Sasuke, after what he did to me, after all of the pain that he caused me that one night when he thought I wasn't watching…" she closed her eyes tightly, her fists clenching tightly. "I will never forget what I saw, after all that happened to him before…"

Ino raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"The man… Itachi Uchiha… the man who raped him… the man that I though Sasuke hated," her voice was shaking. "I followed him home from the ramen bar to see what he was up to. He seemed like he was in such a rush to get away from us, but the second that I got there and I saw Sasuke with _him_…" she took a deep breath her whole body trembling at the thought. "I saw the two of them kissing each other, saying that they were in love… but in the hospital all he talked about was the rape, how much it hurt him, how much he wanted Itachi to die for that…"

"Sakura?" Ino asked walking forward, stopping herself from comforting her best friend. "What are you talking about? They were _kissing_?"

"I saw them with my own two eyes," Sakura closed her eyes tightly. "That's when I understood the speech that you said in the hospital, that's when it all became clear to me. The pain that one goes through when they see someone that they care about deeply with another person… it's a pain that I never thought I would have to face… I thought I beat out all of the competition to Sasuke's heart… but then there was Itachi…"

"_Do you know what it feels like, Sakura? To be pursuing someone fighting with a person that you know that you will never beat. And then when they win you still want to be with the person, but they find you annoying and a waste of time. It hurts every time you walk out of the room and every time you see them together. It's not a little pain; it's a deep searing pain that cuts like a knife right through the heart."_

"I know how it feels, Ino, but the pain is worse than the one that you described," she shook her head. "It's worse than a blade running through the chest, it's like watching everything that you ever wanted fall away from you, burning right in from of you. I never wanted to feel that, Ino; I wanted you to feel that, I wanted to win…"

Ino took an aggressive step forward. "Who are you with now, Sakura? Who was that man that you left the village with?"

Sakura turned away from her once closest friend. "His name is Kabuto Yakushi, a man that is here to take out Itachi Uchiha as well as save Naruto and me by taking us to a man named Orochimaru in the Sound Village. We were going to take Sasuke, but he's a lost cause now… that little brat is your problem now…"

She started to walk away as Ino stood there trying to comprehend what was going on. Everything was walking away from her as Sakura left. Giving into her reflexes she pulled a kunai out of her holster holding it up, aiming it at the other girl. With a flick of the wrist, she threw it toward Sakura closing her eyes as it moved closer to her.

"I'm not going to let you go back," Ino answered triumphantly. "You think all that you've said can go under the category as a good excuse? That's all crap, Sakura, all the words you say are just so I feel sorry for you…"

Sakura turned to her. "Don't mess with the Sound Village. You'll regret it in the end," she walked toward Ino looking into her blue eyes, watching them well up in fear. "You thought that you could take me out now? After I've been training with an excellent ninja like Kabuto Yakushi you still think that we are matched?"

A scoff passed Ino's lips, a few raindrops from her lips falling to the soaked ground beneath them. "You think that you can beat me? I don't care if you've been training with Itachi Uchiha, you're nothing compared to me. I'm going to drag you to the Hokage's office…"

Sakura huffed. "Do you think if you beat me you're going to get promoted to chuunin? Come on, Ino-pig, what do you take Konoha for? You make it seem like they actually want ninja…"

Ino grasped another kunai. "Why are you doing this, Sakura? Why don't you try talking to Sasuke? Why don't you try to reason with him? He probably doesn't know how you feel about him and Itachi, have you told him?"

"_He's a part of me; he's the reason why I live. Isn't that what love is, the person that you can't live without, the person where if they ever died they would end your life forever?"_

Sakura closed her eyes trying to hide the tears. "Sasuke is overrated," she grasped three senbon. "He thinks that he's going to restore honor to his clan. How can he do that when he ran off with the one who killed them? When you see him, ask him how he really feels about me…"

Ino narrowed her eyes as she put her kunai away. "Fighting you now would do no good," she turned away. "I have to go talk to Sasuke; I still need to find him…"

A laugh filled the area, barely audible over the sound of rain falling. "You'll find that bastard and his brother in the Uchiha Clan ruins, the site of the murder. They've been hiding there all along," Sakura put the senbon away as she turned as well, not looking at Ino. "The poison that Kabuto developed isn't even worth the torture of destroying you."

Ino watched as Sakura walked away, watching her moist pink ponytail sway as she continued to go off into the distance. _She still likes Sasuke; why else would she still keep her hair long?_

Sakura still cared for the village; Ino could tell by the way that she didn't kill Ino even though she had a chance to. Most people who were deep in the darkness, with that much hate in their eyes would harm anyone from the place that they hated and end their life. Sakura Haruno wasn't doing any of that. She was still aware of the hurt that she could cause the people she loved. That wasn't an option for her.

On the note, she ran to the Uchiha ruins where Itachi was; the sooner she got the information out of him the better off Sakura would be. "I just hope he knows what he's talking about. If Itachi doesn't know Sakura is as good as dead!"

-----

Sasuke flipped through the pages of the book, taking a deep breath as he stood up. Everything was taking too long; Itachi didn't have that much time left. Sasuke should have known that there was something going on with him, he never seemed to want to talk about the pain that he was in, asking Sasuke how he was doing. It was like he was trying to hide the fact that he was hurting.

"_I can go on with this pain, I'm strong, Sasuke. I don't give up when faced with a challenge. I will not die."_

Itachi was starting to leave him. That was the reason that Sasuke was on his side through this plan, because Itachi was going to die. He remembered back on the day, three AM in the morning and he was in so much pain. Sasuke could feel the tears starting to form in his eyes again, as Itachi said that he only had a few months left. Itachi was almost gone; Sasuke was going to lose him.

"_You don't have to worry about me; you just have to worry about your training."_

Sasuke fell back onto the ground crying out loud, his face buried in his hands as he tried to block out the spot of blood that were on the pages. Itachi risked his life to find an answer to his problem; he worked his ass off to be able to cope with this. Now it was all back to spite him.

As he flipped through the pages, he heard a voice outside the house. "Sasuke?" he looked toward the door standing up. "Sasuke, are you here?" he walked toward the door, grasping his dagger tightly, swallowing hard as he opened the door. What he saw outside was no threat at all.

"Ino?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was looking for you," she stated lightly, holding onto her arms tightly, shivering from the water that was falling down her flesh to the wood that was beneath her feet. "I'm so glad that I found you…"

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't understand what's going on? Is the Hokage looking for me?"

"That old man?" Ino asked with a scoff. "He doesn't care about anything; he won't even let a team go after Sakura, I doubt that he's going to care about what's going on with you," she coughed lightly. "Can I come inside?"

Sasuke looked at her. "Oh! Where are my manners? Of course you can come in," he moved out of the way, watching her walked through the door. He turned to see her looking down at the book. "I know what you're thinking…"

"Medical ninjutsu?" Ino asked looking over at Sasuke who was closing the door. "Why the sudden need for it?" she looked over at him seeing the pain welling in his eyes, the meaning finally coming to her mind. "Is what Sakura said true… if it is… the need for the jutsu… it's for Itachi's ribs, isn't it?"

The Uchiha shook his head walking by her picking the book off of the ground, walking into another room. "What else did Sakura tell you, Ino?"

Ino sighed. "Sasuke, she told me… that you're in love with your brother," she heard him drop the book from the other room. A small gasp rolled from his lungs, followed by the sound of him falling to his knees, small whimpers leaving his lips. "Is that true, Sasuke. Are you in love with Itachi?"

She walked toward the door hearing Sasuke's breathing speed up in the next room. "Why did she tell you, Ino…?"

Ino took a deep breath. "Sasuke…"

"Why did she tell you?" his voice was thick with anger, as he struggled to his feet. "How many other people know that I've been with my brother? How many people know that I love him, Ino?"

"Why is this secret?" Ino asked. "It's not like this is a bad thing? Sasuke, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing. Sakura told me because she wanted to tell me that she knew how I felt. She said the second that she saw you two kissing, she wanted to leave…"

"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked as he picked the book up looking over his shoulder back at the blond girl. "I doubt you showed up on my doorstep to tell me that Sakura is spilling my secrets…"

Ino closed here eyes. "I wanted to know if Itachi was here…"

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked, looking back at her with a confused look on his face. "What could you need from Itachi?"

"I need an argument to go to the Hokage with. I'm going to bring Sakura back, Sasuke," she shook her head. "I just want to know, is there anything else that you did to her before she left? Did you try to punish her for anything?"

Sasuke shook her head. "I didn't do anything against her, nor did Itachi. From what I heard that's where he picked up the blueprints to Mystical Palms. Neither of us did anything directly to her. She seemed to be alright with what Itachi did to Kakashi, he met her after the incident."

Ino looked at the ground. "I want to talk to your brother, Sasuke…"

Sasuke nodded. "I'll get him," he took a deep breath, starting to walk toward the doorway. "Be brief, I fear that Itachi isn't going to last much longer."

Ino sighed, nodding lightly. "Alright," she answered, looking over at the book. "How far along are you in medical ninjutsu?"

He stopped dead I his tracks looking back at her. "You want to see?" she nodded. "Then I'll show you…"

He pulled out the dagger gently, swiping it across her shoulder hearing her squeal as her blood started to drip from the wound. "Sasuke? What are you…?"

"Shhh," Sasuke soothed, holding his hand out. "I'm going to show you what I can do after only a few weeks of training," he closed his eyes, focusing his chakra into his hand hearing Ino's gasp of shock. Opening his eyes, he saw the female genin looking at her closing wound, and then looking into his dark eyes. She placed her hand on his shoulder as the bleeding stopped, not even a mark left on her.

"Sasuke, that's amazing," Ino smiled, moving her hand to stroke his face, pushing some of the loose black hairs away. "You're a fast learner…"

Sasuke was about to open his mouth to say something when he heard a voice from the doorway. "Ino Yamanaka? What do I owe this visit to?" the two genin looked over to see Itachi Uchiha standing, looking at both of them. "Should I come back?"

"No," Sasuke answered quickly, backing away from Ino. "She wants you to answer a few of her questions," he grasped the book looking at Itachi. "I'm going to be in the other room working on my techniques."

Itachi sighed. "Sasuke… what am I going to do with you? You can help us out you know… you know some things about Kabuto Yakushi; you remember our fight in the woods with him. Or did that slip your mind?"

Ino gasped. "You fought Kabuto Yakushi? Was Sakura with him? Did you two fight Sakura as well?" she saw Sasuke look away, touching his chest lightly. "You did, didn't you? Did you hurt her?"

The brothers were silent; Itachi gazing over at Sasuke's shaken state. They were plagued with the memories of the fight, the pain that both of them went through. Neither of them were ever going to be the same. Especially not Sasuke, he continued to shiver as he remembered the pain of the blade running through his chest, his brother's screams as he fell into unconsciousness. It still haunted him; it drove him to never put Itachi through that again.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked lightly, wrapping his arm around him, pulling him closer to his body. "Are you going to be alright?"

The younger Uchiha nodded shakily. "I'm fine…"

Seeing the way that this was making Sasuke, Itachi turned his attention to Ino looking at her with a glance that could freeze fire. "That friend of yours hurt Sasuke more than anyone ever has before, both physically and emotionally. What she did in those woods to him, is always going to be on his mind."

"What did she do?" Ino asked.

Sasuke sighed as he pulled at the bottom of his shirt, lifting it to show Ino the scar that was across his heart. Through the corner of his eye, he could see Itachi turn away, not able to look at the mark, his eyes closing to block out the images. Sasuke knew how much it must have hurt for Itachi, he wasn't the one who was hit with the blade, but he was the one who had to pick up the pieces that were strewn about his dreams. The look on his face when he was done healing him was going to forever be in his nightmares, the feeling of liquid rolling down his neck, it was all horrifying.

"Oh my God?" Ino asked, looking at the scar. "What happened?"

"He got stabbed by Sakura with his own dagger while I was trying to take Kabuto out," he looked into her eyes. "Your question is who Kabuto Yakushi is, right? What's he going to do to Sakura?"

"Itachi," Sasuke warned his brother as he knew he was getting closer to the point where he was going to tell Ino what was happening, about Orochimaru. "Watch what you say to her…"

Itachi ignored Sasuke. "She's a potential container…"

"_Container_?" Ino asked. "What do you mean by _container_? What are they going to do to Sakura?"

He took a deep breath as he continued to explain. "Kabuto Yakushi is a scout for the Sound Village run by a man named Orochimaru. Orochimaru has this Immortality Technique that involves him to extend his life in exchange for a human body. A container is the body of his choice, one who seeks darkness and hatred, the power to make themselves a stronger person. Sakura fits that criterion."

Ino shook her head, looking at the ground. "What is an example of a _container_?"

"You're looking at two potential containers," Itachi continued as Sasuke straightened his shirt out. "The power that we had was one that fit his reference, but he wanted us even more because of our kekkei genkai: the sharingan."

"Then why does Orochimaru want Sakura?" Ino asked looking at Sasuke. "When Sasuke is right where Kabuto wants him, why doesn't he go after you, Sasuke? You're right here…"

Sasuke sighed. "Because I'm with Itachi and he's training me to be a ninja, Ino. The reason why we were potential containers is because we're too strong for him now. He can't defeat us in a battle. Sakura is still learning and with Kabuto he can make her what he wants her to be."

Itachi took a breath. "If you don't get her back soon, Ino, she's going to be lost forever," he looked into her eyes. "Do you want that for your best friend? Do you want to lose them in this insane darkness that you can't pull them out of? If she gets too deep, we're going to have to kill her. That's if I get to her first."

Ino gasped. "You're going to kill her?"

"What do you think?" Itachi spat. "She stabbed my brother and ran off with that snake bastard! Do you think I'm going to let that slide? I'm not the kind of person that you think I am, I don't see the good in people. I don't see how people are genuine. If someone is looking to die I am the one who will administer the death blow. That scar on my brother's chest isn't going to go away; it's not going to fade as easily as you think. And I'm never going to forget those long minutes that I spent trying to bring Sasuke back to life, it was the longest moment of my life…"

Ino shook her head as she looked away. "That's not Sakura…"

"It is now, Ino," Sasuke answered his voice low. "And I'm going to have to side with my brother. She's caused too much pain… you see that blow that gave me that scar, it wasn't meant for me… I blocked the attack, to save Itachi's life. It's crazy, I shouldn't have done it. I should have thought about what I was doing, but for once I did know, and it felt right…"

The young girl closed her eyes. "I can't believe any of this… I can't believe Sakura would do this… it doesn't sound like something she would do. She's never done anything this impulsive before. Now that she has, you're going to kill her?"

Itachi turned away from her. "I'm not going to let that man get another body, nor am I going to give Kabuto Yakushi, his medical ninja, the pleasure of beating me out," he looked back at Ino. "Please save her, before I have to spill her blood."

Ino closed her eyes as she walked toward the door hearing the first sound of thunder looking back at Itachi and Sasuke. "I want to know more about all of this," she looked directly at Itachi. "What is going on? What makes everything that you do so dark, so bloody? Why are you trying to make me leave before I had my fill?"

"Did I ever tell you to leave, Ino?" Itachi chuckled. "You can stay, it's a horrible storm out there, the moment that it passes you can leave," he clutched his side. "Sasuke, do you want to go talk to Kakashi Hatake now?"

Sasuke looked up into his brother's eyes. "I'll go, but I'll be right back, I promise," he kissed Itachi lightly on the lips knowing that Ino was right there. He moved toward the door quickly. "Nice seeing you, Ino."

Ino sighed. "You and Sasuke…?" she raised an eyebrow. "How many times have you had sex with him? I know it was more than by the river, I can tell by the love bites he keeps getting on his neck. So how many times?"

Itachi shook his head. "What kind of question is that for a twelve-year-old girl?"

"I'm curious?" Ino asked sitting on the ground. "How many times?"

He looked down at her. "Ino, I know that you like Sasuke a lot…"

"You like him," Ino argued.

He grasped the book on the table looking down at her. "Ino, if you need me, I'll be working on trying to decipher this book. There's a phone if you have to call anyone…"

Ino smiled. "Thank you, Itachi," she looked over at him. "Maybe now I have an argument to the Hokage…"

"Always glad to help stop Orochimaru," he disappeared into another room coughing blood dripping to the ground. _I can't wait for Sasuke anymore; I'm going to have to start thinking about doing this myself…_

-----

Sakura watched as Sasuke ran out of the house down the road. He had survived so far, he was still in one piece. That was her pain running down the road; he was the one that she loved more than anything, the one that she had decided to become a strong ninja for. Now everything seemed like a waste, she no longer had the patience to wait for him to notice her again. She was done.

"Looks like you've gotten along nicely," Sakura spat as she pushed a few moist hairs out of her face. "You and that brother of yours aren't going to last much longer, not after we take hi plan away and bring Naruto to the safety of the Sound Village," she watched as Sasuke continued to run through the rain. "To think this all started because of your brother; I still remember that day when you were a bleeding wreck on the beach. You wouldn't be breathing without me. Itachi left you for dead."

A tear formed in her eye as she remembered everything that she had done for Sasuke, none of it was good enough. Nothing was going to be the way that she had dreamed it would be, both Sasuke and Naruto were too far away for her to restore the way that they wanted to live. They all lived different lives and walked different paths now, three paths that weren't going to cross.

She sighed as she watched him continue to walk. "Sasuke, I swear that we're going to meet again, but I'm not going to be the weak ninja that you said I was, I'm going to be a threat," she smiled. "I'll show you that I can be strong too. Then you'll realize that I exist and this pain will end, and we'll all live happily in the Sound Village free for harm."

Taking a deep breath, she walked away from the scene not looking back at her old teammate looking ahead to the route that she would take to get to Kabuto. They belonged to different worlds now, worlds that would never be able to come together, no matter what the circumstance. Itachi had too much of a hold on him, a tear slipped from her eye at that thought. Kabuto was right, it was too late.

Sakura walked slowly thinking about everything that she had been through. She thought she could trust Itachi even if he was a murderer, but all of the compassion, it was all just an act.

"_I know that. I gave him a reason to live, and it's time for me to justify that reason. I have to find the reason in his madness. If he wants blood, I'll give him blood."_

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to forget Itachi in any way that she could, she could no longer go through this pain of thinking that killing him was the wrong choice. She had to abandon her bleeding heart. She had to become cold if she wanted to defeat him, emotions were just unwanted baggage.

"Run all you want, Sasuke, your time will come soon enough…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter is a connecter to the answer to one of the questions: is Itachi going to die anytime soon... it will be answered soon. The story is almost done (not! there's still enough chapters left to make it's own story). Anyway, ths chapter brought more light to how Ino feels about what's going on with Sakura (I felt like shedding some light on that.) Anyway, what did you all think? Good? Bad? Want the answer to the question regarding Itachi's death? Honesty is my policy. 


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that pertains to this anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter contains blood/violence, coarse language, references to rape and other sexual situations, use of tobacco, yaoi, incest, OOC, and the canon is also pretty well gone even if you see hints of it. There are also a lot of errors. This chapter is also going bring more light onto the question asknig if Itachi is going to die, even though it won't quite answer it.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, AsuKure, references to ShisIta, slight KakaIta, some GaiKaka

* * *

Shikamaru walked up to the door of Kurenai Yuuhi's apartment, the place where his sensei was being kept. It had been some time since he talked to him, not seeing him at all since the accident. Slowly, he moved his hand to touch the hard wood of the door. He took it away; there was no way that he was going to bother him now, not after all of the pain that he had been trying to hide. He was in pain; he didn't want to show that to Kurenai or Asuma. He promised that he was going to stay strong. 

This was more than a reunion; it was like he was visiting a ghost of the past, a ghost that he thought that he would never have to see. He knew that he wanted this day to come, the pain of knowing that Asuma was leaving. He should be thankful; Asuma was still going to be a ninja, unlike Kakashi who would be lucky to have a regular heartbeat ever again.

As he turned to walk away the door opened. "Shikamaru?" a voice asked: it was Kurenai. "There you are, I was wondering when you were going to show up."

He turned to look at her. "Kurenai how is he?"

"He's fine," Kurenai answered, looking at him with a smile. "The wound isn't bothering him anymore and it missed all vital spots. The Hokage is thankful to have him back in one piece, even though he's going to have to take a break from any real missions."

Shikamaru sighed. "But he will be able to eventually…"

"Yes," she answered, looking at the ground. "No doubt you've heard about what happened to Kakashi. Unfortunate, he was such a great ninja, he was going places that no one had ever gone before. He was the one that Itachi needed to take out the most, Asuma was an example… Kakashi was used as a threat."

The genin sighed as he looked up at the jounin. "But Asuma-sensei's alright…"

Kurenai nodded. "You can come in if you want, Shikamaru. Asuma would be glad to see you…"

Shikamaru looked down at the ground as he walked forward looking into Kurenai's crimson eyes. "It must be rough on you, having to take care of him, feuding with Gai; it must hurt to have everything that you knew changed so suddenly."

She took a deep breath. "I'm getting used to it, but it will take some time to adjust to. The sun never being out doesn't help the pain that I feel, or the pain that you feel. Konoha is not the place to be right now. When it's not Itachi Uchiha; it's a young genin going missing…"

Shikamaru walked in. "You heard about Sakura," he closed his eyes. "We we're going to go after her. We got denied; the Hokage thought it would be in the best interest of the village if we just let her go. It wasn't Itachi; I don't see why he's bothered by the fact that we're going after her. Itachi shows no interest in taking Sakura, his only interest was Sasuke. He's made that his point on more than one occasion."

Kurenai closed the door behind her. "He's in the bedroom," she smiled lightly. "Just don't try to get him too worked up. He's still in pain and he shows it well. His ribs are still a little bruised."

The genin nodded. "I'm not going to hurt him; I just came to see him because it's been a while since I've been around him," he looked up at Kurenai. "Is it hard juggling a genin team and taking care of Asuma?"

"Like I told you, he doesn't have to be closely watched, he didn't have any mental trauma after the accident. Besides, my team understands what's going on, and I think they all needed a break from training until the scare was over. We've got bigger problems than Itachi Uchiha now; we've got a person who's preying on young ninja. You should be careful too…"

He nodded. "I'll keep that in mind," he walked toward the doorway that was holding Asuma inside of the room.

There was something about seeing him again that made him shiver, what was to be in the room? Was Asuma going to be alright? He got stabbed in the stomach with a katana, the likeliness that he was going to be one hundred percent was slim. Yet his sensei was stronger than the average person, he wasn't going to sit down and take this. He was going to be back in the game soon enough.

As he was about to open the door he heard a voice call out. "Open up the damn door, Shikamaru. I already know you're out there…"

_He sounds back to normal; _he opened the door looking at the sight that was on the bed, it was better than he thought it was. There was no excessive blood loss; he wasn't having any trouble breathing. Kurenai seemed to be taking care of him.

"Shikamaru," Asuma breathed, the sheets rustling beneath him as he faced his student. "After all of this time, I don't even get a greeting?"

The genin closed his eyes tightly as he ran to his side, wrapping his arms around him. "Asuma," he hugged him harder than he had before. "I thought that you were going to die… I didn't… you… I wasn't ready to lose you."

"It was only a flesh wound," the jounin answered, placing his hand up against his student's back. "I can see that you've missed me."

Shikamaru nodded. "So much has happened since you left. Sakura's gone missing; no one knows where she went. The Hokage won't let us do anything about it fearing that we're going to wind up like you. What Itachi did to you was uncalled for. Why would he take you out like that?"

Asuma took a deep breath. "Shikamaru," he shook his head, holding onto his closer. "I know that it hurts you to think about what happened to me, but I want to tell you something that will change your outlook forever."

Hearing those words made Shikamaru back away in shock, he feared what his sensei was going to tell him. "What? What happened, Asuma? Are you hurt worse than we thought you were?"

The jounin shook his head. "Shikamaru, that day I wasn't thinking straight, the second that I left the Hokage's office, I started to think. Gai's plan, although slightly intelligent, was not the right way to go. If we didn't bother him, he would hurt us. That's what I was trying to prove."

Shikamaru's eyes widened as he shook his head. "No, you didn't…"

Asuma nodded. "I wanted him to stab me, I wanted to provoke him to prove that he isn't after us, but he will destroy anyone who's in his way. That's why I engaged in battle with him, that's why I didn't hurt him too badly. I was proving a point, a point that no one would have listened to if I didn't do it."

The genin shook his head. "Why would you provoke a man like that, a man that can take out any ninja that he wants? He could have killed you, and still you felt the need to try to face him? Sensei, I don't understand, why?"

"There are times where you need to get your name back, and you will do anything to make it seem as though you saved people for the good of the village. I know that it was careless. I should have never faced a man like that, but I believe that there was something inside Itachi telling him to stop right as the blade hit me," Asuma looked toward the window, trying to look away from his shaking student. "I don't think his intention was to kill me, his intention was to prove me right, to give me the pleasure of my request. My request was in his favor. Itachi's only cares about what could be in his favor."

Shikamaru closed his eyes tighter. "That was all part of your plan? You wanted to hurt yourself to save the village?"

"It worked," the jounin answered.

"Worked? Asuma, you could have risked your job and your life trying to do something so stupid. You weren't even sure if you were going to get out of that alive," he shook his head as he looked out the window, his body shaking as he heard the words. "All of this time when we all thought that he attacked you, we never thought that you actually goaded him on. You were the reason why he destroyed you, because you hurt him greater than you knew you should," Shikamaru retched lightly as he closed his eyes, clasping his hand over his mouth. "You… you did all of that to save the village? Asuma… why?"

Asuma sighed. "It's not like I killed someone…"

"You made us all worry about you. You made Ino and Chouji hate Itachi Uchiha more than they've ever hated anything. You made me look at Sasuke with different eyes; you made me think that if we handed Sasuke over, all of our troubles would be gone. You did all of that to get that man not able to be touched," Shikamaru shook his head, his hand still over his mouth. "No…"

"Like it or not, that's what ninja do," he looked over at the genin who was near tears. "That's the line of duty that we are destined to be part of. We serve the Hokage; our lives are dedicated to protecting him, even if they are lost. I saved the Hokage from future damage; I stopped the situations like what happened with Kakashi from happening again."

Shikamaru stood up, walking toward the door looking back at his sensei. "Asuma, after all that you told me, you never told me this is what a ninja does. I always thought that it was just _troublesome _or a _pain in the ass_, I never thought that it had this deep of a meaning. I didn't think that ninja would have to go through such extremes."

Asuma looked over at Shikamaru sighing lightly. "There are sometimes when a person must be sacrificed to ensure the survival of the rest. One person has to drown so that the rest can go to safety; one person has to be the one who has to give everything for the cause. That was me," he took a deep breath. "There were flaws, I didn't know if I was going to make it out alive, and on the other hand…" he sighed. "I wished… I wished that I could have saved Kakashi with this plan."

The genin bowed his head. "Your fuel was Kakashi…"

"If there was a way that I could give Kakashi my body so he could continue to prosper, I would do it again and again. I would gladly sacrifice everything for that man. I didn't have anyone on my side during that time, so I felt as though maybe if Itachi did feel malicious it wouldn't be so bad; it would be like doing a favor."

Shikamaru looked back at him. "Loneliness? That's your reason for stupidity?"

"When people have no one, they tend to feel as though they can only help themselves. That's why you see people like Sasuke Uchiha always running away from people, he doesn't feel as though he needs them because everything that was once close to him, is now gone," Asuma looked toward the door. "Now I found a person who I can count on, I found Kurenai, and she's been by my side through this whole endeavor, she's not going to turn her back on me."

Shikamaru looked at the ground and then at the window. _That's why Sasuke's like that? Because he's lonely. That's why he's running away from Naruto. Because he doesn't want him to turn his back. Yet now I feel as though they need each other more than they ever have before…_

-----

Sasuke ran down the street closing his eyes tightly. Everything was starting to go wrong these days. All that he had grown accustomed to, the life that he thought that he wanted to lead was all gone in a single moment. The goal that he once had, the dream that he had always had of killing his brother was gone. Every second that went by, as he watched Itachi die, it made his heart wrench painfully. The blood that ran from his brother's lips never seemed to end; it always seemed to stick to him wherever he went. He closed his eyes; he couldn't think about what his brother was doing, he couldn't be concerned with Itachi. He said he could handle it.

Still, he couldn't help but worry about him. The bleeding was getting worse, as did Itachi's breathing patterns. There were times during Sasuke's training where he thought it was going to be the end of his brother; he saw the blood that constantly trailed down his chin, the lost look in his eyes with every breath that he took. He had killed him in a way that he never wanted to; he wanted to make it as quick as possible so there was no time to second guess his motives. After the weeks of being with Itachi, there was time to do just that, and he had started to give into the guilt.

Continuing to move down the streets, he took a deep breath, he was finally back on the streets of Konoha, a place where he had not tread through the public in a while, not since the night when Sakura went missing. He had grown nostalgic of the usual walks down the roads where he would meet up with his teammates. Naruto and Sakura were always there to talk to him, always there to break him out of the anger that he had thrust himself into. He felt as though if they ever left he would never stop the anger.

Now Sakura and Naruto were gone, yet the anger was starting to dissolve as well. If he could get Itachi to say that he was better than him, he would know that he had lived a worthy life, then he would be worthy of killing such a man as Itachi Uchiha. He knew he was getting close to surpassing him; he had learned Mystical Palms faster and with more efficiency than Itachi, surprising him. That was the first time when Itachi ever seemed proud of him.

What did he really want from all of this? Did he want his brother's power so he could prove to him that you don't have to go to such horrible lengths to obtain it all? Or did he seek it so that he could kill him? The way that Itachi's lips curled into a smile whenever Sasuke talked about killing him, the way that his hands always pulled the blades closer to his flesh, a look of peace on his face as they started to pierce. He wanted to die, that's why he left one alive. The one that he thought had the most potential.

He shook his head. He couldn't think about what was going on in his brother's head. He couldn't even get a straight answer of anything that he said. He never explained anything was going on fully, as if he was still trying to hide something from Sasuke, like he was trying to protect him. The answers he couldn't get from Itachi, he could always get from Kakashi, he knew that he was always welcome back to him. Kakashi was never going to hate him for leaving his team; Itachi had promised that he would give him back in the end.

Finally, he stood right outside of the building where Kakashi was being held in the prison where he was to stay for the rest of his days. The feud that he and Itachi had was never going to end, caused by reasons that Sasuke would never know. No matter who taught him, he would never be able to get all of the answers that he wanted. He was never going to get any of the answers that he wanted. It made it hard to trust people.

Walking through the hallways inside of the building, he thought back to what was going on at the house that he had left at home; Itachi was home alone, probably with that dagger. He desperately clung to his side feeing the handle of the weapon that his brother had given him: Shisui's dagger.

_I still have it; _he let out a relieved sigh, knowing that his brother's attraction to the dagger was like a moth to the flame, Shisui's name alone was a taboo around him. Shisui was the reason why he was trying his hardest to get power; he was the one who drove him to insanity, the one who he feuded with when he was younger. Shisui was Itachi's Naruto; he was the wall that he had to break through to get what he wanted.

_I have to stop thinking about that monster, _he closed his eyes tightly. _After what he did to Itachi, all of the years while Itachi trusted him, under the surface he was trying to kill him. _

He clutched his stomach, feeling it churn as he thought about the years when that was occurring. Sasuke thought that Shisui and Itachi loved each other. It was all a lie, like everything else was. Itachi only gave the darkness in his heart more to feed off of as he thought of all of the negatives that people had done to him, shutting everyone else out. Everything burnt in front of him.

As he came to reality, he realized that he was right outside of the doorway that he had traveled so far to get to. Kakashi was behind that door in greater pain than his brother was in; more blood than Itachi had ever coughed up was probably bothering the jounin, all because of Tsukuyomi. All because Itachi was so gung-ho about winning.

Pressing his hand to the door, he closed his eyes thinking about all that had happened. Kakashi had no reason to tell him any of the answers to his questions. Sasuke never showed him a sign of respect, never showed that he really cared for any of his teachings. He just wanted physical power, something that Kakashi had refused to give him. He wasn't like Naruto and Sakura, he was different from them, he walked a different path than them, he wasn't like them, he was the one who betrayed him first, the blows even worse than what Sakura had done.

_I have to put all of this aside, _he took a deep breath as knocked on the door, he was here for a reason. He was here to get the information on Orochimaru that Itachi didn't want to share. It was understandable though, Itachi was actually confronted by that man who had dreams of having him as a container. Not to mention he had Orochimaru's medical ninja literally trying to kill him. Itachi had his own problems. It was time for Sasuke to do his part of the plan.

The door opened, Gai standing in the doorway. "Sasuke? What are you doing…?"

"Where's Kakashi?" Sasuke asked, looking into the jounin's eyes, his own cold as ice. "I need to talk to him, Gai. This is important."

Gai sighed. "Sasuke, after what I heard about you, you quit his team…"

"I took a temporary leave," the genin answered quickly. "Kakashi is always going to be my sensei now matter what emotional turmoil that I'm going through. I need him, Gai; I need to talk to him about something."

As they looked into each other's eyes, there was some skepticism in the older ninja's, his fists clenching tightly, obviously fighting the urge to lash out at the young boy. "Sasuke, after what happened between Kakashi and Itachi, I don't think you know what _he's _been through. He's lost everything, Sasuke; he's never going to be a ninja again because he was trying to save you…"

"This isn't my fault," Sasuke answered flatly, interrupting Gai before he could say anything else. "Let me in. I have to talk to Kakashi."

"I can't let you do that," Gai answered, starting to close the door, footsteps coming behind the jounin causing him to turn, his dark eyes widening in shock at the sight. "Kakashi? You shouldn't be out of bed, not in your condition."

Kakashi sighed as he looked at Sasuke through the closing door. "Gai, the boy said that he wanted to see me. Why are you trying to shut him out? You know that he's been through his share of pain or did you forget about the Nakano River?" he opened the door. "Come on in, Sasuke, you can talk to me."

Gai looked back at them. "Kakashi, what if…"

"Damn, Gai, the Hokage only told you to watch over me. He didn't tell you to run my life," he watched as Sasuke walked by him, the young boy walking to sit on the couch while the two jounin ignored his presence.

Sasuke closed his eyes trying to block out all of the tension in the room, it was reminiscent of all of the fights that his father and Itachi had back when he was younger. He prayed that this wouldn't wind up the same way. The violence that they had toward one another, the way that his father used to lose his temper from time to time, drawing blood from his precious son as his mother screamed in the corner. He remembered the tears that he cried for his brother as he watched him run off to his room to stop the bleeding. He cursed himself for not seeing the massacre coming.

As he came back to reality, he noticed that Kakashi and Gai were just staring at one another, neither of them backing down. Gai was about to utter the first syllable of his counterattack when Kakashi beat him to it, almost predicting what he was going to say.

"How do you think I feel about all of this, Gai? My student was _raped_. How would you feel if it was Lee?" Kakashi looked back at his student who was on the sofa. "I know that I feel as though I could have tried harder, and in that hospital room, I was ready to die for him…"

"Did he lift a finger to help you?" Gai asked, pointing at Sasuke, making it clear that he was aware of the young boy's presence. "He decided that he was going to sit back and watch you struggle."

"How would you face a man who killed everything that you loved? And then raped you until you felt like you weren't worthy of life, how would you feel about facing him?" Kakashi glanced back at Sasuke who now had his face buried in his hands.

Sasuke looked over at them through the opening between his left little and ring fingers. "I'm sorry, you guys can continue…"

Kakashi sighed as he started to hobble over to his student watching his eyes start to well up in tears. "How have you been, Sasuke? Last time I saw you, you had a fever and were threatening to leave my team forever…"

Sasuke sighed as he remembered back to that morning, when he saw the blood rolling down his brother's chin. He was here to learn more about Orochimaru in case his brother gave into his ailments and…

_No, _he closed his eyes. _That's not an option, not anymore. Maybe if he wasn't so important to me, maybe if he didn't constantly hurt himself to try to save me. That's his life; his life is me and my growth, even if that means his undoing. Doesn't he know? _Sasuke shook lightly, feeling Kakashi's hand rest on his shoulder. A gasp left his body as he glanced at his sensei.

"I know what's going on with your brother," Kakashi whispered lightly in Sasuke's ear. "I'm sorry…"

The genin closed his eyes hearing those words coming from Kakashi. He couldn't talk about this with Gai around. It was a deeper relationship than Gai thought it was. Itachi wasn't just the man who killed everything that Sasuke loved, he was the only person left that he did feel those emotions toward. If anyone found out he could only imagine what they would call him. They would refer to him the same way those ANBU guards did to Itachi.

"Gai," Kakashi looked over at Gai. "Will you leave me and Sasuke for a second; I have a few questions for him…"

The other jounin shakily nodded, complying as he walked through the door to leave them. Sasuke could feel the questions coming; he could already sense Kakashi asking him about his brother. There was something that went on between the two of them, a reason why Kakashi cared so much. Yet Sasuke knew he would never get the answer he desired, neither of the two were going to reveal any information that linked their relationship with one another.

"Sasuke," Kakashi started as he looked over at his student. "How has your life been going? What have you and Itachi been up to since the last time I saw you?"

The genin sighed. "Training, that's all Itachi ever wants to do…"

"Training?" Kakashi asked. "What kind of training?"

"Water techniques, medical ninjutsu…" Sasuke's eyes wandered to his side as he looked at the dagger that was holstered onto his belt. "He gave me a dagger to practice weapon techniques with too."

The jounin bowed his head. "What else have you done?"

Sasuke knew what he was talking about, his eyes closing loosely. "Kakashi… you already knew that we…" he took a deep breath. "We haven't stopped yet, and it was my decision to continue what we're doing."

"Sasuke…" Kakashi shook his head. "You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Do you trust everything that he says? I had a talk with him; he feels as though you two are coming apart, he feels as though you're…"

The genin closed his eyes. "I know that he worries about me. That's why I came here; I have a question for you. Kakashi," he took a deep breath, "Who is Orochimaru? What can you tell me about him?"

Kakashi sighed. "He's one of the three legendary sannin, ninja who were taught by the Third Hokage himself. They include Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, all of them had a falling out and they haven't been seen in years. But Orochimaru… he's the most perverted of them all…"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "Perverted?"

"He developed a series of seals called cursed seals, which he applies to anyone who he feels could be of use to him. Once the seal is applied it takes over the body, feeding off of the wearer's chakra until they lose control, their personality distorting," Kakashi shook his head. "He wanted to put one of those damned seals on your brother, but he never got the chance as far as I know."

Sasuke held onto his stomach as he thought about it, his own brother losing his body to some pervert who wanted eternal life. It was sickening that there was a ninja who would go to those lengths to get what he wanted. He could feel his body start to shake as he realized that those were hands that Sakura was going into.

"Kakashi," Sasuke breathed, trying to hide the fact that he was starting to get sicker as the moments went by. "Is there anyway that we can stop this man?"

"You're staying with it, Itachi is the only one that I know who we have on hand who can beat him," the jounin shuddered lightly. "When your brother gets provoked, not even the Devil himself will be able to stop his wrath. When he has a purpose to kill, he gives into it. Orochimaru has desires to take your body, he has desires to get a hold of your kekkei genkai, so not only will he increase his lifespan, but he will also be able to learn every jutsu…"

Sasuke shook his head. "This man is from Konoha?"

"Sadly yes, he longed to be the Hokage, but he wasn't mentally stable enough," Kakashi shook his head. "He ran tests on countless ninja; most of the candidates not even surviving what he was intending to do. He was then let go and he started the Sound Village."

Closing his eyes Sasuke took a deep breath. "So if I want him to not take my body, I have to train to the point where I'm stronger than him?"

Kakashi sighed as he closed his eyes, looking away from his student. "Sasuke, you have the potential to be a great ninja, that's what your brother is trying to do. He's trying to save you from Orocihmaru before something really bad happens. He cares for you, Sasuke…"

"I know he does," Sasuke breathed. "That's not something that can be hidden easily. You don't wake up with a person by your side without knowing how they really feel about you; you don't kiss their lips and miss the tenderness that they are trying to maintain. He was never one to joke when he let his emotions slip out, if he feels that way toward me, then I know it's not a lie."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask a chuckle passing his lips. "You're starting to understand that revenge isn't the way to go aren't you?"

"You told me that it doesn't help anything, and I do listen to you, Kakashi. You say some pretty important and intelligent things sometimes. You do the training that no one else, especially not Itachi, would ever do," he took a deep breath. "You gave me emotional support as a father figure; Itachi gives me support deeper than that. He's dedicated to me, and I'm dedicated to him. We help each other achieve goals that we never thought were possible."

Kakashi took a deep breath. "I heard about Sakura…"

"Then you know she's with him, she's gone to Orochimaru. I swear Kakashi; I will save her from that man with every last breath in my body. I will save her from the dark fate that she has chosen, because that could have been me," Sasuke took a deep breath. "Itachi saved me from that life, he save me from being a pawn to that monster."

The jounin shook his head as he looked away from Sasuke. "All of this time when I told you to count on your teammates. Did you even listen? I can see some of it in you, you were driven to Itachi by your heart. I always feared that you would give into that emotion. But Sakura…" he shook his head in disgust not wanting to think about what they were doing to her. "Did she go off with Orochimaru himself?"

"No," Sasuke answered. "His medical ninja, Kabuto Yakushi. She has started the journey to the Sound Village with him. A little over a week ago Itachi and I went into the woods to try to retrieve Sakura while Itachi took Kabuto out as an example to Orochimaru. Something went wrong and next thing I know Sakura is running toward Itachi with a dagger…"

"But Itachi was in one piece when I saw him a week ago…" Kakashi argued.

Sasuke lifted his shirt to show the scar that was on his chest, watching Kakashi's body freeze for a spilt second, his arm wanting to reach out and touch it to see if it was real. The genin closed his eyes remembering the cries that he heard the sorrowful words that spilled with every drop of blood from Itachi's lips. He remembered the look in his eyes as he looked at Sasuke's blood on his hands. That would never be repeated. He never thought that he would see the man who killed their whole clan without a second thought try that hard to save a life.

"Sasuke," Kakashi breathed. "You…?"

"I took the hit for Itachi," he answered. "I was going through the pros and cons in my head and it all added up to me saving him. He wasn't supposed to die there, and my purpose would never happen if he died by someone else's hand. If he did die by someone else, there would be no point in living anymore. I live for him… I am nothing without him."

The jounin pushed Sasuke's shirt down. "How did you survive? That was a direct blow to your heart."

"It missed by a little, if it had hit directly, I would have died almost instantly," Sasuke felt his hands shake as he remembered the cries of despair rolling from his brother's lips, the silent tears that were still moistening the back of his neck. "Itachi saved me, for only God knows how long, he was using his remaining chakra almost to the point where he couldn't see straight to heal my wound. Waking up and seeing that pain, physical and emotional, it made me understand that he never wanted anything to happen like that again."

Kakashi sighed. "Your brother has lost his mind…"

"I know he has, to care that much for one person, to sacrifice himself to save me, it was the most touching this that he'd ever done for me. It showed me that he was the only one who cared about my well being, that through this all he was the only one who tried to save me," Sasuke gulped lightly, trying to fight the whimpers that were threatening him. "He's always saving me, and yet I never give anything back to him, but he doesn't want anything, he never wanted anything."

"He wants you," Kakashi answered. "He wants you to hate him so that you can finally kill him. He wants to die by your hand, that's why he tortures you, that's why he continuously tries to hurt you, but I don't think he can do it anymore. He loves you, Sasuke; you should take it as a compliment. I never thought that Itachi Uchiha was going to be able to love anything, but you… you're the one who has broken that chain."

Sasuke closed his eyes as he remembered how Itachi was always by his side since he took his offer to become his student. Even in the darkest hours of his days, Itachi was right there next to him not thinking about the goal, but thinking about Sasuke alone. There were so many times that he could leave, but he only considered it when Sasuke told him to. This was a bond that he had never seen his brother make, not even with Shisui. He cringed at the thought of that man, may he be damned to Hell if he ever caused someone as much pain as Shisui Uchiha caused Itachi.

"I hope you learned a lesson from your time with Itachi," Kakashi sighed.

"I did, I learned that I have to continue working on medical ninjutsu," Sasuke took a deep breath. "I already have it pretty perfected after I copied it from Itachi. I have to work harder if I want Itachi to last through this whole goal, he's drowning slowly, and I'm not going to let death take him away from me. Not until I'm ready to give him up."

"So you're working hard," the jounin asked.

"I'm working my ass off for him," Sasuke answered. "There's nothing that I wouldn't do for him. Everything I do, everything that I am, it's all for him, and no matter how I try to break away from that, there is no way that I can now. We're so close."

Kakashi placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder looking down into his students eyes. There was finally a reason for the genin's existence besides hatred, his personality changed with a single phrase from Itachi's lips. He was able to put all of the pain on hold to help someone out that he cared about. This wasn't the Sasuke that he knew. This was a new Sasuke. A better Sasuke.

-----

Shikamaru looked at Asuma and Kurenai from the doorway. All of this time, Asuma went through such lengths to guard the ones who were important to him. He let Itachi go at the hospital to protect Kurenai whose genjutsu attacks would have been useless up against him. He felt that the village shouldn't provoke Itachi and threw himself right in front of all of the attacks that could have come to the village, not allowing the Hokage to throw a full scale attack onto the young ninja.

All of this time, Ino had hated Itachi, when it was Asuma's wishes to be wounded mortally. All of the hate that the team had toward the remaining Uchiha would be dissipated as soon as they all got the news about what _really _happened.

The door opened as Kurenai walked out. "Try to understand Shikamaru; Asuma was only looking out for the village. I don't want you to hate him for what's going on…"

"I can't hate him," Shikamaru breathed. "How can I hate him when I'm just glad that he got out alive? If he had died during that effort I would have hated him for leaving me alone, but how can I hate anyone, I don't know who to blame."

The jounin looked down at her feet. "It's hard to decide who to blame. No twelve-year-old should have to go through what's going on right now. None of you have been untouched by this, especially not your team, Sakura, or Sasuke."

Shikamaru shook his head. "I'm not in the same category of pain as Sasuke," he looked over at her. "The pain that boy has gone through I wouldn't even be able to stomach," he looked toward the window at the darkening sky. "Once upon a time, all I wanted to do was watch the clouds, I just wanted to get out of this world, but now I realize that there is no escape. Even if I were a cloud, I'd still sob everyday during this time, I would still shed tears for all that we've lost."

"It will take time for Konoha to get better," Kurenai soothed. "But we can do it."

"But we won't forget," Shikamaru answered. "At least Sasuke will never forget."

"_He feels touched and worthless, one a paper is ripped to shreds it can never be whole again, but with a little effort it can become something new, maybe even more perfect than before."_

"But you never know," Shikamaru grinned. "He could come out of this better than he was when he came in; after all, he's strong."

He walked toward the door thinking about Sasuke. Did Ino ever find him in this mess? Sasuke was the last link that they needed for their plan, not only could he question Kakashi for information, but he could also give information on his brother. Itachi was a subject that Team 10 was forever going to be curious about. He was the reason why all of this was happening, but the final act that involved Sakura had nothing to do with him. The answers weren't coming efficiently.

_Then we'll have to keep on looking, _Shikamaru quickly lit a cigarette, inhaling the fumes lightly. _We just need to get Sasuke…_

-----

_I thought she'd never leave, _Itachi flipped through the medical ninjutsu book looking around the room. Ino was finally gone so he could continue his work so he could stabilize himself. He could feel his body starting to run out of time, his lungs burning with every breath that he took. He wasn't sure if he was going to make it through.

Trying to dull the pain, he looked around the room seeing the walls that confined the area where he killed his parents. He remembered the churning feeling in his stomach as he took their lives, their blood falling to the ground, spilling relentlessly. All he could feel at that moment was the satisfaction that his father was finally dead. After all of the years that he had to put up with the pain, he had ended it.

The blood that ran from his lips seemed unending as he flipped through the book with tremulous hands. He wasn't ready to give up yet, not until he showed that he was stronger than Shisui was, not dying by drowning in his own blood because he was too weak to stop the bleeding.

"Damn it," he coughed harshly, small trickles of blood splashing from his lips, his right hand tightly clutching his side feeling the skin heat up rapidly, his lungs igniting with a blazing fire. "Shit!" he felt his hands shake even harder than they had before. He couldn't control the tremors, nor could he feel the muscles that were powering the trembling.

Feeling the pain roll through his body, he fell onto his hands and knees, heaving, trying to catch his breath, the bubbling noise of his blood in his throat in his ear. Everything around him was getting hazy, as he could feel the blood rising in his throat starting to run from his nose.

"Fuck!" he breathed, his fingernails scratching against the ground, his weight falling. The hard surface of the floor pushing up against his bruised chest, a loud scream exuding from his weakening lungs, everything was leaving him. He could hear Shisui's laughing as he fell further into the darkness."

"_You're weak, Itachi, can't even stay strong after I gave my life for you…?"_

Itachi opened his eyes slightly looking around the room trying to concentrate enough chakra in his hand to sustain life, but the results were far from favorable. As he concentrated enough, his eyes shut tightly, a glut of blood falling from his lips onto the floor, his body weakening with every moment. Glancing at the blood he was reminded of that night when he killed the people he had once called parents, remembering the blood that stained the room, the look on Sasuke's face as he opened the door sticking to his memories.

"S-Sasuke," he muttered, more blood falling from his lips, his chest becoming numb as he felt his chest become numb. He moved his shaking hand to touch his chest, he was bleeding externally as well, the wounds that Kabuto had left on him starting to destroy him, the poison's effects making him numb for over a week. Kabuto's poison was made from a stroke of genius that Itachi would never understand.

_Did it rupture? Did my lung break open? _He took a deep breath only feeling slight burning sensations, not a ripping pain. The attacks that Kabuto had done to him were worse than he ever thought that they would be. The poison that was injected into his leg messed with his already broken ribs causing more blood.

The broken skin was from the fall to the ground, he should have tried to shield himself. With one last look around the room, Itachi wondered if he was going to make it out of this alive. It didn't look too good for him; he was going to be lost to the cycle of life and death.

"Sasuke…" he breathed, the bleeding finally stopping, only the remnants mixed with saliva rolling down his cheek, his breathing starting to slow with his heartbeat. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry that it had to end this way…" a small smile graced his lips as he finally closed his eyes. "Y-you killed me… you did it…"

He felt his vision leave him, pain filling his body, everything growing numb. He had done it, everything was over now. They had finally done what they wanted to; they had killed the clan together. Sasuke was going to have to continue on his own, Itachi wasn't going to be there to help him anymore. It was all up to him.

"Sasuke…" he breathed one last time, his hand falling limp touching the open book lightly, blood trailing onto the page. For once in his life, Itachi was the one in physical pain, a pain that he thought he would never have to feel, his life leaving him gently. This was the end for him, but the beginning for Sasuke.

-----

A chill ran down Sasuke's spine as he looked toward the window. "Damn it," he shook his head trying to pull himself together.

Kakashi looked at his student with concern. "What is it, Sasuke? What just happened?"

Sasuke closed his eyes feeling the shivers running down his spine faster. _Something's wrong, _he grasped the handle of his dagger as he looked toward the door. The answer was so clear now, he knew what was wrong. _Itachi! _He stood up and ran toward the door. "I'll talk to you later, Kakashi…"

"Sasuke?" the jounin asked, watching the boy run away.

The genin continued to walk down the hallways, making the same twists and turns that he had made earlier that day. Only this was urgent. Something had happened to Itachi that Sasuke didn't know about. He hadn't felt like something was wrong like this since… the day the clan died.

_Itachi… _he clutched the dagger tighter as the first drop of rain fell from the sky. He wasn't going to make it in time if he was in that much trouble. He had to move faster than he had ever moved in his life. Every second meant that Itachi was slipping away, he now knew the feeling that Naruto and Sakura felt when they were gathering the jounin, but this was different: Itachi was vital to him; he was the only one who mattered now.

"_I've had it with this, I'm going to perfect my medical techniques. I've spent enough time sitting on my ass while I watch you die. I'm the one who did that to you…"_

He was the one who did that to him. His was his attack that had caused him this much agony. It was his burden to bear that told him that he would have to save him from this dark fate; it was his responsibility to fix it because Itachi was too weak to. It was either that or he would have to sit and watch him die.

Then again, why was he so gung-ho about it being his ribs? It could have been Kabuto and Sakura knowing his weakness and taking him out almost instantaneously. Either way, he had to hurry if he was going to save his life. Otherwise he was going to lose his brother forever. Death was permanent. He gripped the dagger tightly out of disgust and rage.

"I'm coming, Itachi…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that this chapter was kind of sad at the end, but it's going ot answer one of the many questions. I know that it was mean to leave you like that but you get to see whether Itachi lives or dies in he next chapter. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Want to know what happens to Itachi? Honesty is always good. 

The next chapter is going to be REALLY EMO (much like the whole story... I'm aware that it's a soap opera) so I want to apologize in advance.


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything that pertains to this show...

**Warnings: **This chapter is an EXTREMELY EMO chapter, so you are all to be warned. This chapter also contains coarse language, blood/violence, incest, yaoi, slight sexuality, references to death and homicide, OOC, and the canon is only showing slight traces. There are also some errors in this chapter (as there always are). Please enjoy.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu

* * *

Faster and faster, harder and harder, he was moving toward the house that he had left his brother within. He thought that he was going to be alright, but his intuition told him otherwise. He continued to run, looking through the place that he used to call home, the place where the Uchiha clan had prospered. He could still see the dead bodies littered among the streets, he looked toward his house. 

"Brother," he whispered as he took a deep breath before he started running toward the building, tears running from his eyes. "Itachi!" he moved faster as the rain started to fall, his heart raced in his chest, his breath starting to catch in his throat. He had to hurry.

A sense of hopelessness filled his soul as he continued running to the door, the shock making him forget where the house was. _I have to pull this together, or Itachi's finished… _he walked to the door, finally remembering that this was where he lived. He had arrived.

"I-Itachi," he opened the door, walking through the front of the house. His brother was nowhere in sight. He closed his eyes as he continued through the house, following the eerie silence to where he wanted to go. "Itachi, where are you?"

The feeling of that night had come back to him, giving him the feel that there was someone else in the house who had harmed his brother. Taking the handle of the dagger in his hand, he pulled it out, grasping it tightly. He swallowed hard as he tip-toed, continuing through the house. His heart beat fervidly in his chest as he moved into the darkness, feeling the rain hit harder against the walls.

He continued to go through the hallway until he got to the door looking straight at it. That was the room where he had seen the worst sight he had ever seen, his parents' dead bodies strewn across the ground, his brother standing over them, overconfidently proud of himself. In that room was Itachi, probably in the worst amount of pain in he had ever been in throughout all of his life.

Sasuke moved up against the door, resting his ear up against to hear what was inside, it was dead silent. He would have liked some sort of noise, some way to show that the people in that room were still alive. The silence was killing him slowly, his arms frozen at his sides as he took a deep breath. He was paralyzed with the fear that whatever took his brother from him was still in there.

"Move," he told himself quietly. "Move, Sasuke, move…" a tear fell down his cheek, his body shaking as he grasped the handle to the door. "Move!"

Quickly, he threw the door, open almost running through it instantly. "Brother!" he looked down at his feet as he felt moisture around them. As he saw the sight, his body froze, his stomach churning as his vision clouded. It was blood: Itachi's blood. "Itachi?" he looked forward seeing Itachi on the ground face down. "Itachi!"

He finally got control of his body, running toward his brother's side, it was worse that he thought it was. The blood, though not as much as his mind thought there was, formed in a pool running from Itachi's mouth. All of the things that he had said that morning, all that he had said about his body slowly giving out on him, none of that was a lie, it was all painfully true. He was dying right before him.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, rolling his brother's body onto his side, watching the rivulets of blood rolling down his cheek from his parted lips. "Itachi?" he wiped the blood away with his finger, his body shaking as he looked down at the sight.

Everything was coming back to him, all that Itachi was, all that he wasn't, it was all rolling back to him like a great wave of remorse. All that he learned from this experience, all which he didn't learn was going away from him as well. He did it, he finally killed him, after all of this time, Itachi was finally lying on the ground dying with every second that passed. For once he was given the opportunity to prove that he didn't need him. He had the opportunity to be free.

"If you want to die," Sasuke breathed, stroking his brother's hair. "Then die, Itachi," he held back the tears. "Just die and get this over with. Die, Itachi. Go ahead and die right now…"

He took a deep breath as he looked around the room, this was the place when he started to hate this man that he was next to, the day when his heart broke. Now it was breaking again, even if Itachi did try to heal the wounds and make as many amends as he could. Itachi could never heal Sasuke's wounds, he was aware of that, he didn't try that hard to, he embraced the fact that his younger brother was suffering just as much if not more than he was. It gave him a sense of security.

He rested on Itachi's shoulder, his body trying to stop the sobs. "I wish you did kill me that night, I wish that you didn't show me mercy. I wish you didn't care about me enough to ensure my existence. If you killed me, you'd still be here," he closed his eyes. He should be jubilant to see his brother die in the same place where his parents died, with the same bloodshed as the whole clan. This was different than he perceived it would be, he expected him to feel a great weight lifted off of his shoulders as Itachi died, but the weight only grew greater, he started to understand that he needed Itachi more than he ever thought that he would.

As he stroked his cheek, he heard Itachi cough lightly, blood rolling from his lips onto Sasuke's flesh. There was still life in his body; there was still time to save him. He dropped the dagger, his body shaking, his vision clouding, his heart accelerating in his chest. It was all up to him, he help his brother's life in his hands.

"Hold on," Sasuke breathed, lifting up Itachi's shirt, noticing the broken skin over the bruise, the blood running along his skin. "Shit," he breathed, holding his hand over the gouge trying to get enough focus to summon enough chakra to save Itachi's life before he lost too much blood. "What the hell are you doing, Itachi?"

Closing his eyes, he felt the chakra run to his hands; this is how Itachi must have felt in the woods when he was putting all of his energy into saving his life. The look of fatigue on his face, his eyes swelling with tears of pain combined with unforgiving sorrow. Itachi risked everything to save him, along the way in this journey he had been taking it to extremes to save his life. He nurtured Sasuke, healed his wounds, he held him when the nights got long; he was always there for him.

_I can do this; _he opened his eyes, feeling the wound start to close, looking at his brother's pallid complexion. _He's not going to last much longer, I have to work faster and harder than ever before. _He watched as the wound continued to close, he could still hear Itachi's breathing, although it was faint, dying like an ember. A tear fell down Sasuke's cheek as he came to grips with reality, he was going to lose him, Itachi was going to die right here.

"I can't do this," he whispered, watching as the wound closed, taking his hands away. "Itachi, keep breathing," he kissed him lightly on the lips. "Don't stop, please, don't stop," he kissed him again, continuing to beg. "Please… breathe…"

He watched as more blood ran down his brother's cheek, hearing his breathing start to decrease, it sounded like it was getting difficult for him to keep functioning. Itachi was starting to weaken on him, Sasuke was scared. This could be the end of everything that they had ever dreamed would happen.

"_If anything should happen to me, take my ring, destroy the fox, and continue on with the rest of the tailed beasts. I want you to continue my legacy."_

Sasuke ran his fingers along his brother's right ring finger, looking at the ring that was situated on it. That ring had caused them so many problems, the reason why Kabuto was after Itachi was because of the ring. That damn ring, that ring meant the world to Itachi, more than his right arm meant. Slowly, he slipped the ring off of his finger, looking at his brother's body, watching him shake slightly.

"Itachi," he breathed, looking down at the blood, running a hand through it and then shifting his eyes to look at his brother's shivering hand. He had to do more; he told himself that he wasn't going to stop his training until Itachi got healed, until the moment when he was able to breath, the moment that bruise would stop harming him. This was his moment to dull the pain.

Reluctantly, he ran his fingers along his brother's blood soaked lips, reaching into his mouth, feeling the pool of blood that was still trapped inside. He cringed at the warm moist feeling as the scarlet liquid started to overflow, running out of his mouth onto the ground, a small whimper leaving Sasuke's lips as he delved deeper into the moist cavern. Where was the problem, was it higher in his throat than he thought it was. Itachi gagged as Sasuke started to push his finger down his throat, the muscles tightening around the digit trying to push it away.

_Well that worked, _Sasuke thought as he watched the finger drip blood as he pulled it out, more blood running from Itachi's lips with every cough. _Did he rupture something? If he did, is it completely burst, or if I try can I still save him? _He focused more chakra was into his hand looking at Itachi. _I'm not going to stop even if it kills me, Itachi, because you did the same thing for me._

He placed his hand over his brother's left lung right where the bruise was situated. _I will never forget that look on your face as I faded away. Nor will I forget the way you were after I came back to you. The tears that you tried to hide are still running down my neck. I will never forget the pain you went through because of me, I will never forget that hurt I caused you, the extremes I made to go through, _he closed his eyes another tear running down his face. "I won't forget…"

He felt everything run through this attack, everything starting to move slowly. He knew how it felt to have everything gone. Itachi was the last strand of hope that he had for salvation, the last ounce of sanity that he had held onto through this whole chain of events. He wasn't ready to lose that, not after everything else was gone. Sakura was gone, Kakashi was gone, and Nartuto would soon join them, he was secure with that because Itachi was going to be there to help him through it, but he was gone. He gave it all up for Sasuke, even his own life.

"_I wouldn't sacrifice myself for any of those fucking bastards that we called part of our clan…"_

He closed his eyes tightly, he had to stop thinking of the tragic past, he had to focus on positive thoughts. He had to convince himself that this was going to work and there was no second guessing himself. He was going to return the favor.

"Brother," Sasuke breathed, moving closer to him. "I don't like it when you get like this. I don't like it when you leave me alone," he wiped a tear from his eye. "When you leave me, it's like your trying to kill me. I love you, brother," Sasuke let out a silent sob, his fingers trembling as he healed Itachi's chest. "I hate how you always leave me alone. It's like I don't matter to you," he let a tear fall down his cheek, his voice shaking. "Why do you do this? Why do you cause so much pain whenever you leave? Why am I so attached to you?"

"_Because I mean something to you, I'm precious to you and you would give anything for my life. You share a bond with me because the blood that runs through your veins runs through mine as well."_

Sasuke let out a sob; he was feeling himself start to feel smaller, his spirit shrinking back to his childhood. Everything that he had tried to forget, all of the pain that they had in all of their life was resurfacing, resurrecting emotions that he never thought he would feel again, bringing back words that he thought he would never say. The technique that he had lost sleep over was now going to be the savior of their team, the savior of their clan.

"Brother!" he breathed, pushing hander up against Itachi's chest hearing him start to breath again, but the sound of gurgling apparent in his mouth. Sweat rolled down his face as he felt his brother's pulse start to accelerate, his body shaking in pain. He was choking. Sasuke tried harder as he felt the split ribs start to reconnect, he was starting to heal the wounds that he promised himself he would. He took a deep breath, swallowing harshly as he watched more blood run from his brother's body.

_It's the excess blood in his lungs, his body's starting to reject it all quickly, _he watched as his brother's face paled. _Fuck! This isn't good, even though the lung is almost healed he's still bleeding, but what could it be? _He stopped the flow of chakra, running his hand along his brother's ribcage feeling the bone completely in tact. It still wasn't enough, even though Itachi was healed, the broken bones and flesh patched back up, he was still bleeding new blood, not the phlegm soaked blood that had been mixing with the fluid in his lungs for weeks. This was higher in his respiratory tract, that's when it hit Sasuke. Itachi was testing Mystical Palms on himself; the effects must have risen to his throat.

"Itachi, you retard," Sasuke sobbed, looking down at his brother's neck feeling the swollen muscles, the sloshing of blood as he pushed. He had caused more damage to himself than anyone ever could have, he had destroyed his throat, Sasuke just hoped as a major scale, not at a cellular level.

He placed his hands up against his brother's neck closing his eyes. "You're worth more than this; you're worth more than a suicidal wreck. You're worth more than death," he took a deep breath. "I won't let death have you; I won't let anyone have you. You're mine," he pushed more chakra through his hands. "Damn it," he heard Itachi cough. "His lung isn't done healing, but if I stop working on his throat he's going to drown," he closed his eyes trying to think of a way to get out of this problem. _Shadow clones… the technique that Itachi taught me how to do. But if I do that, it's going to subtract that chakra that I have. Even if it's risky, he's got a better chance if I can heal both sections of the body at the same time. It's a half and half chance, but I believe that the clone will be in Itachi's favor._

He took his hand away starting to make the hand signs that would create a shadow clone. It pained him to know that the chakra that he used for that technique could have been used in Mystical Palms; then again, Itachi was running out of time. Itachi once said that Sasuke was a natural at the art of medical ninjutsu, saying that he was able to make it his own, that he had learned it faster than he thought he would. Sasuke was stronger in this field, where Itachi let his nerves and emotions get in the way of the jutsu, Sasuke was sticking to the task at hand, driven by Itachi's life in the balance. Right now that balance was leaning more toward death rather than life.

The clone touched at Itachi's chest as Sasuke continued to work on his neck, hearing him start to cough again, more blood splashing onto the ground. "Come on," Sasuke breathed, watching the tremors that were running through Itachi's body start to slow down. "You can do this," he closed his obsidian eyes. "You can make it through this, Itachi. You can do this."

He felt tears roll down his cheeks as he heard his brother's breathing become quieter, turning into a small bubbling noise. "Itachi!" he watched as the liquid continued to flow out of his body. "Fuck!" he put more energy into the technique, almost blinded by the power of the chakra. "Fuck!" he continued to sob, taking deep breaths as he tried to fix everything inside of his brother's body, hoping that this time it was going to work. He wasn't going to rest until he was saved.

_He's such a bastard. He's selfish, getting his body to this point and not expecting me to care about any of it. What a prick, _he looked at the clone who was still working on the chest. _If the clone keeps the lung stable so that it won't leak anymore blood, then I can see how much is coming from his throat. Just a little more ought to do it._

Suddenly he felt the breathing start to speed up, as to compensate for something: his heart was beginning to stop beating. The more he worked on healing the wounds, the more likely he would lose circulatory function. There were now complications. He was suffocating, drowning, choking; all respiration was starting to affect his heart. Itachi was going to die at this rate.

_He can live a few moments without his heart. _Sasuke prayed continuing to work on his throat feeling his brother's lungs work harder, his pulse starting to slow down. Respiratory arrest, Sasuke remembered that from the hospital, there were some sacrifices that were going to have to be made if he was going to make it through this. If Itachi was going to live, he was going to have to make it through this, if he was going to survive, his heart was going to have to stop just for a little while.

_Please, let this work! _He pushed more chakra into his brother's body, feeling the last few breaths finally clear, a few coughs escaping his lips, expelling all of the fluid that was deep inside of his lungs as well as his throat. Sasuke whimpered as he watched the blood roll down to the ground, this was when it happened, the moment where Itachi's heart was going to stop.

"Itachi," he breathed, stroking his brother's face watching the excess continuing to roll down his cheek, his hands shaking as his pulse started to slow down. "Itachi, please," he closed his eyes, tears running down his cheeks as he held onto his older brother's hand. "Don't, please!"

"_As long as you feel that you know that I'm still with you. And you know that I'm never going to leave you like that. How selfish would I be to leave you with all of this without a helping hand? I swear nothing will happen to you, Sasuke."_

"You're selfish," he breathed, running his hands to Itachi's decreasing pulse. "You said that you weren't going to die on me, and I'm not going to let you get off of this that easily. You said that you were going to last longer than this. You said that we were a team. You said that you were going to unleash my potential. Now you've become this, a dying ember of the flame you used to me. You make me sick, Itachi Uchiha! You make me sick!"

He placed his head on Itachi's chest as the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. Itachi was leaving him, he could feel it in the way his heart was beating in the way that he was shaking gently up against him struggling for breath. All Sasuke could do was sit and take it, he wasn't like Itachi, he didn't have the strength to go all out on a dying person, not a person that he loved as much as he loved Itachi. He loved Itachi more than he loved anything; he loved him more than he loved to hate him.

"Itachi," he took a deep breath kissing him lightly on the chest as he heard him cough. _If he keeps coughing up the extra blood, he might be able to get oxygen to his heart. He could actually live, he could survive this. If he lives, then my outlook on him is going to change. This is worse than a stab to the chest, this is real pain, this was drawn out, something he had been fighting for weeks._ He buried himself deeper into the warmth of his brother's body, even with all of the blood that surrounded them; Itachi had retained some warmth, his body temperature only dropping a few degrees.

He was one of the lucky ones; he was one of the ones who would go untainted by this plan, one of the ones who would survive with all of the dignity that they started with. Itachi was always lucky, always getting by and excelling without trying. He got everything that he wanted, even if what he wanted was to cheat Death out of his soul.

Sasuke broke down and sobbed, closing his eyes tightly as he felt Itachi's body move to a steady pace, everything functioning the way that it was supposed to. Thanks to that technique, everything that they wanted had come closer to them, and there was no fear that they were going to die too soon. They were going to live through this. The sobbing still continued as he fisted his brother's shirt tightly, kissing at his chest whimpering with every breath.

"I love you," Sasuke breathed as he watched the blood continue to roll from his brother's lips. "I love you so fucking much…" he wiped the blood from Itachi's lips hearing him wince as he touched him. "You're going to be alright now," he looked over at the book and then at Itachi. "I'm going to continue my study; I'm going to make sure that you won't continue to go through pain. I'm going to continue to heal you no matter how much energy it takes," he moved to kiss him on the forehead hearing him whimper yet again. "You won't die…"

He kissed along Itachi's neck, feeling him shudder, his right hand starting to move from its position to stroke the younger shoulder blade, Sasuke gasping at the feeling. All of the pain that he had been through only lasted a few minutes; it all faded away as he felt the shivering hand up against his back.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed. It was true, Itachi's heart did stop for a second, but only a second before his body started functioning again. It was a surge, nothing more than moment where he could have been considered dead. Nothing more than his heart skipping a pulse, everything was going to be fine now, once all of the blood was cleared. He had been through a lot, and still he as able to survive his injuries. Next time they weren't going to be so lucky.

Sasuke continued to rest up against his brother on the bloody floor, tears still rolling down his cheeks. He wanted to kill him once upon a time. Once upon a time, Sasuke wanted to put himself through that much pain. Once upon a time, Sasuke wanted to spill that much blood from his brother's body and not shed a single tear. He thanked the heavens that time was gone, and it was never going to come back. Even though he thought he could, his brother was right. He couldn't kill him, his hate wasn't strong enough, his heart was too attached to him to take Itachi's life, and his life was the most precious treasure that Sasuke had, killing Itachi would have taken everything that he had called his life, he would have taken everything that Sasuke was.

_Everything's going to be alright now, after I keep draining the lungs, Itachi's going to live; he's going to make it through this. So long as nothing like this happens again, if that becomes the case, then I don't know if I can help him, _he kissed lightly at Itachi's chest again, closing his eyes as he heard his heart beat, the bubbling of the blood in his throat almost dying down, with every second. The stress was off even if just an ounce.

"Sasuke…" he heard Itachi breathe harshly, followed by a struggled cough. Sasuke backed away as he watched the blood continue to flow from his mouth. "Is that…?" he coughed again. "Is that you?"

The younger Uchiha took a deep breath, reaching to stroke his face watching his dark eyes start to open. "You're alright," Sasuke moved closer to him, feeling the warmth start to return to his brother's body.

Itachi was frail, weak, he didn't look like how Sasuke was used to seeing him. His body moved as if it was heavy, as if it was complete dead weight, struggled cries passing Itachi's lips, his hands pressed up against the blood soaked wood of the floor. Every movement made pain run through Sasuke's nerves, watching the small trails of blood from his brother's lips.

"Take it easy," Sasuke whispered, extending a hand to Itachi's chest, watching dark eyes follow the fingertips, then rising back up to look Sasuke square in the eyes. "You're going to hurt yourself…"

Itachi swallowed lightly, gagging on the metallic taste of blood. "Sasuke… what happened?"

"You don't know?" Sasuke asked, his voice still shaking with sobs. "You scared the living Hell out of me, that's what happened. Look around, do you see all of this blood? It's all yours…"

Itachi looked around the room, his head shaking lightly. "Did I rupture something?" his voice was still weak, hoarse from coughing, a coarse texture to his words with every syllable. "That seems like a lot of blood…"

Sasuke shook his head. "You didn't rupture anything, when you think about it, it's not that much blood," he closed his eyes a tear running down his face. "But if I had come just a second later…" a sob passed his lips. "I can't do this, Itachi… I…"

He was interrupted in his thoughts, Itachi's lips pressed gently up against his, his shaking hands pulling him closer. Sasuke moaned lightly at the taste do blood in his mouth, his tongue pushing deeper into the moist blood soaked cavern of Itachi's mouth. More tears ran down Sasuke's cheeks as Itachi held onto him, his heart beating faster as he finally heard his brother breathe clearly.

_He recovered fast, one minute he's near death, suffocating, the next minute he's making out with me, _Sasuke pushed closer to Itachi, his hands running beneath his shirt feeling the ribs that had once been so fragile now rigid, unmovable. He purred at the feeling of Itachi's chest moving almost painlessly with every breath he took. "Itachi," Sasuke breathed, backing away from his brother's lips, looking into his eyes. "I…"

"Shhh," Itachi soothed kissing at his cheek, "I'm alright now, you do have potential in medical ninjutsu, believe it or not. That was a deep internal wound. You've made excellent progress in that particular field of study," he kissed him on the lips lightly. "I'm proud…"

Sasuke took a gulp of air before looking into his brother's eyes, still melting with the radiation of pain that was leaping from his sable eyes. "You should get some rest, Itachi, you should get some sleep. You've been through a lot tonight."

The younger Uchiha stood up shakily, feeling the blood rush hurriedly through his head; he was still tired from all of the chakra that he had used to heal Itachi's wounds. Trying to dull the pain, he looked down at his hands, seeing the blood that had caked them. This was the feeling that he had waited for, the feeling that used to give him a high. Now all it did was stab at his heart, tears of anger rolling down his cheeks. He was the selfish one for thinking he could take all of his away from his heart. His spirit was trying to deprive himself of something that he wanted all along, dulling the power of love with the dark hunger of his ambition.

"Sasuke…" Itachi sighed, running a hand through the younger ninja's hair. "Thank you… I know that was a tough decision for you. I know that you had mixed feelings about letting me live or die. A part of you wanted to sit here and watch."

The younger Uchiha let out a low sob. "But the part of me that I trust wanted me to save you," he kissed Itachi lightly on the cheek, wrapping his arms around his body. "I love you…" he pressed his lips to Itachi's for a few seconds backing away to look into his eyes. "I can't live… if that life that you wanted me to… I can't kill you… I need you, Itachi; you're a part of me. A part that I don't want to lose…" he felt Itachi's fingertips, run across his lower lip, lowering themselves to grasp gently at his chin. "I-Itachi," he panted moving closer to take his brother's lips again, this time aggressively. "Itachi!" he breathed as his lips were freed for a second.

He could feel Itachi's weight lower onto the ground, taking him with the fall. Everything was hazier than before, his brother's heartbeat echoing in his ears with every second that passed. Fingers trembled, grasping fiercely at one another, Sasuke's legs quivering up against Itachi's body, hearing a snicker pass through his lips.

"We should probably go to bed, Sasuke…" Itachi breathed, backing away from Sasuke, the warm haze of his breath being taken away, his body starting to move away from the younger Uchiha. He winced lightly as he grasped his side again.

"Still in pain?" Sasuke asked, watching him close his eyes, a small drop of blood rolling down his lips. "I did enough to stabilize you, but I couldn't completely drain the lungs, but if you keep coughing you'e going to be just fine."

Itachi smirked cockily. "When did you get so intelligent all of a sudden?"

Sasuke smiled back as he heard the thunder roll outside of their house, moving closer to Itachi. "I have to be intelligent if I want to get out of this journey in one piece. There is too much on the line now, we've bet everything on this. If we lose, we're done."

"Relax," the older Uchiha stated, feeling Sasuke's hands extend to his side, starting to heal him again. "You've gotten really good. Look at you, Sasuke; I think we found a specialty for you."

Sasuke remained silent as he continued to repair the wounds that were inside of Itachi's body, trying not to focus on the way that his brother was masking his pain. All he could think about was the comforting hand that was resting on his thigh, the gentle breaths that were passing his brother's lips. Warmth ran through his body, his heart racing as he looked up into Itachi's dark eyes again. It was magnetic, he was drawn to him. He slowly moved forward, feeling his brother's breath on his lips, the hand that was situated on his thigh rising. Itachi was in no condition to do this, neither was Sasuke, but the more that they thought about it, the more that they wanted one another. This was the moment that Sasuke had waited for a while for, the day when he could finally kiss Itachi when he was able to breathe.

Slowly, their lips met again. This kiss was the kiss that sent shivers down his spine, his body shuddering as Itachi's bloody tongue, moans seeping from his throat. His hands gripped at the bottom of his own shirt, Itachi's hands rising underneath the fabric, Sasuke gasping, backing away from the kiss as he felt the trembling fingers.

"Itachi…" Sasuke panted as he licked his lips lightly. "You shouldn't…"

"Don't worry about me," Itachi breathed, kissing Sasuke on the neck hearing the young boy moan. "You're going to go mad if you keep worrying about me. I'm a dangerous person, and there are consequences with that, consequences that you are not obligated to be part of," continuing to kiss at Sasuke's neck; he wrapped his arms around him. "Sasuke, don't think too hard about all of this. I know you're in pain. Your sensei, your best friend, and your teammate have all been hurt by this, as have you and I. This is an endeavor that is not going to leave anyone untouched, and though I take full responsibility for the injuries that have inflicted you, me, Naruto, and Kakashi; I never saw what was going on with Sakura coming."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Itachi…"

"I'm sorry about Sakura, and I'm sorry about Naruto," he sighed shaking his head. "I want you to know that I'm trying to find ways to save all of your lives, to make this right. I'm trying to find a way so you don't have to see anymore blood shed. I'm trying…"

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Itachi…"

"I'm legitimately trying Sasuke," he looked into his brother's eyes. "I'm trying to find a way to make this so that you don't have to go through that pain that you've been through ever again. Mystical Palms can only do so much, but the injuries that you are feeling now can never be healed, wounds that I will never be able to take back. Forgive me for that."

"This is all very touching…" Sasuke breathed, stroking his brother's face. "But brother, you're talking too much again," he wiped the rolling crimson from his lips, his dark eyes melting Itachi's ice cold barrier. He kissed him again, pushing him to the floor, he ran his fingers through Itachi's hair, feeling his arms wrap around his waist.

Sasuke took a deep breath looking down into his brother's eyes, swallowing hard before he kissed him again, his heart almost stopping as he continued to feel his head spin, warmth rolling deep in this abdomen. Itachi was alive, after all of this time he could finally relax knowing that Itachi was going to survive this, there was no more worrying.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed, stroking Sasuke's face, smearing the tears with his fingertips. He kissed his nose as he pulled him closer to his body, his breath accelerating, but clearer, the horrifying bubbling of the blood that was in his lungs almost gone. His hands still shuddered, his pulse increasing with every kiss that he laid on his younger brother's body, Sasuke responding to each one.

_He's alive, _Sasuke breathed as he felt Itachi's body become warmer, blood rushing through his whole body. _And I'm going to enjoy every last pulse that he has to offer in this life. He's alive… _he reached to touch the bloodied book on the side of them. This was the reason why they were alive, the reason why they had become strong after all of this time. It was the reason that they were allowed to keep this happiness, and Sasuke thanked the book for that.

That damn book was the reason why both of them were breathing as was Sakura, the place where Itachi had first gotten the basis for the technique. Even though Sakura was the reason that they were becoming distant, she was the reason that they were granted other days with each other, the days when the passion was sometimes too much for wither of them to take.

Sasuke rested his head up against his brother's chest his mind vanishing with every pulse of his heart as they tried to catch their breath, Itachi's hand running through Sasuke's hair, his fingernails embedding in his scalp, a small cry of pain rolling from his lips, his body shuddering.

"Sasuke," he breathed, kissing the top of his head. "If only we could stay like this forever, in this room, lying in one another's arms not concerned about what we were getting ourselves into."

"Is that what you really want? You don't want hatred; you don't want me to give up on my dream. Everything that you said, was it all something that you were using as a cover up. All you wanted was for me never to leave you? I think I fully understand why you killed everyone but me, you wanted me to be the one to grow strong enough to kill you, but you wanted me never to leave you," he kissed Itachi's chest lightly. "Never forget you…"

Itachi sighed. "You are intelligent…"

"You never really know what you want do you?" Sasuke asked with a sorrowful sigh, resting deeper into his chest. "But out of all of the requests that you've made, that was probably the most sincere one that you've made," he snuggled closer still, his body shivering with passion as he felt fingers stroked his back gently. "We can live like this, if only just for one night."

In the room that had once been fed the fire to Sasuke's nightmares, he finally found comfort from the storm. He had finally gained the happiness that he had wanted. Itachi was alive.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I know that this chapter was pretty damn emotional and over the top, but I personally thought that it was pretty well-written. You should all be glad that Itachi is safe for the time being, his ribs are now healed thanks to Sasuke. So what did you all think? Good? Bad? Really happy that Itachi is going to be alright. Honesty is always good.

The next big thing to happen is bring Sakura back (or attempting to...)


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that has to do with this anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter contains blood/violence (a lot of blood from the aftermath of the last chapter), incest, yaoi, crude language, thoughts of homicide, references to rape, some references to sexual situations, OOC, and the canon is pretty well gone (even if you can see it just a little). This chapter is also a lot longer than the last one and there are errors throughout as well, I was to damn lazy to pick them out. I also want everyone to know, to those of you who skipped the last chapter, Itachi is still alive and he has bene healed.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight KakaIta

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes to see himself back in his bed, Itachi's arms wrapped around him loosely yet possessively. Last night was an experience, one that he wouldn't soon forget. The way that he was breathing was clue enough that it did occur. He looked up and saw the crimson liquid staining the pillow; he had been giving off more blood, his body still trying to reject it. Glancing into the waste basket, Sasuke could see that he had vomited, swallowing too mouth blood as he cough it out of his lungs.

A cough ran through Itachi's body, a splash of blood leaving his lips, even though the bleeding had stopped, his body was littered with the liquid where it didn't belong; it was a miracle that he didn't suffocate instantaneously. The blood loss had become less and less severe, although during the night Itachi had awoken to vomit three times and two times with a bloody nose. His body was a mess; Sasuke could see that by the way that his brother responded to him every time that he awoke in the middle of the night. But Itachi was oblivious to how much it hurt Sasuke to see him in that much pain. Did he hear the tears that he cried last night? Judging by the way his arms were wrapped around him, Itachi heard every sob, comforting the young boy until he fell asleep.

_He really does care, _Sasuke looked at the blood that was on the pillow, reaching to touch it, the liquid was still warm, fresh from Itachi's lips. He was a fool to think that he was going to be able to kill him; Itachi was always there for him when everyone else turned their back. Even now as he tried to live his life in Konoha, no one looked at him the same way, they all went on their own directions, and Sakura had become loyal to the Sound Village. Itachi was right next to him when he was needed, he was right here, gently holding onto him, encouraging him in the moments where his comrades looked at him condescendingly.

The most important part was Sasuke was reaching Itachi, he was starting to find emotions that Itachi had tried to kill, he was trying to find out who his brother really was, find the purpose for his existence. He had gotten Itachi to apologize for acts that he had caused Sasuke, the rape being the largest one that he felt guilt for. Sasuke knew that he was being an idiot, but he believed him, he could feel the guilt that Itachi had in his heart for that night, the way his eyes would break every time that the word was brought up. Itachi might have been one hell of an actor, but that was something that not even he could fake.

As Sasuke moved he heard Itachi gently sigh, loosening his grip on him. He wasn't the same monster that Sasuke had been afraid of all of these years, it was finalized; there was no more reason to second guess himself. This was the way that Sasuke wanted to live. He was becoming stronger and he had found someone who cared about him, all in his one true hate. Even though there were acts that he could never forgive him for, he knew that he would have to look past all of the realizing that his brother was trying his hardest to make a life for Sasuke. He was going at it the wrong way, but he was the only one who cared. The only one that Sasuke knew would never leave him on purpose.

He sat up in bed, looking around the room; he could still smell the bloody vomit that had come from Itachi's lips. It wasn't the smell that he wanted to wake up to, but knowing that it was slowly helping Itachi recover was enough for him to forget the disgust, all of this was necessary.

He moved his finger's to stroke Itachi's cheek, feeling the moisture of sweat stinging his fingertips. A sigh passed Itachi's lips, snuggling closer into the pillow. Sasuke took a deep breath before situating his hands over the spot that he had healed multiple times since Itachi started coughing again. He thanked God that Itachi thought it was important to study medical ninjutsu. Without that ability, they would have died long ago. Then again, that's what Sasuke loved about his brother; he always knew ways to get out of tight situations. That's why his past experiences with ANBU as well as Akatsuki were going to be in their favor.

As he felt as though he had done enough, Sasuke took his hands away looking out the window; the sun was starting to shine. Everything was going to be alright today, he could feel it with every breath that Itachi took. They were moving closer to their goal, becoming stronger than they ever had before. He knew that everything that they had worked for was going to save Sakura from Orochimaru.

Why was she even with him? Sakura wasn't dumb, she was far from it. She was a very intelligent girl, but whatever Kabuto had done to get on her side must have been hypnotic. To trick a girl who had memorized all of the ninja principles, acing all of the tests in the Academy into going to a village that was run by a madman took skill. Then again, after all that Itachi had told him about Kabuto Yakushi, he did have the skill that it took to do such a feat, even more so than Itachi himself.

_Sakura, _he closed his eyes as he shook his head lightly, remembering the day in the woods, the look in her eyes as she charged toward his brother. He couldn't forget the way that she pushed the dagger into his chest, with so much force, without a second thought. That was a stab that she had meant for Itachi, that was the stab that she was going to use to kill him. She had grown as a ninja if she was able to muster up enough courage to fight up against Itachi Uchiha.

Closing his eyes, he let out a single sob, burying his face in his hands before he felt a hand rest up against his back. "Itachi?"

Itachi moved, the sheets rustling. "Are you alright?" he asked in a weak voice, his throat still sore from repeated amounts of coughing and vomiting. "Are you still crying?"

Sasuke wiped his eyes. "No…"

"Come on, Sasuke," Itachi snickered. "You were always horrible at lying, what's wrong? What's on your mind?" he sat up wiping the blood from his lips and nose, coughing lightly to remove more of the liquid.

"I was thinking…" Sasuke breathed, trying to hold back his sobs. "I was thinking about what we're doing through all of this, about our purpose. With so many people trying to bring us down, are you sure that we'll get out alive?"

Itachi nodded. "I told you, no one is going to hurt you if they ever want to have full control of their body again," he wrapped an arm around Sasuke's pulling him closer to his body feeling the genin shudder as he continued to cry. "Sasuke, what are you really thinking about? Is it Sakura?"

Sasuke whimpered. "Y-yes…"

Itachi sighed as he looked out a window. "You're worried for her aren't you? You're hoping that she and I never meet each other face to face. I know that it scares you that I might kill her, but Sasuke…"

"Itachi…" Sasuke shuddered, biting gently at his lip. "You don't understand, do you? I don't want to watch my teammates die, even by your hand."

Itachi sighed again as he kissed Sasuke's temple. "This is difficult for me too, Sasuke. I know that you don't want to sacrifice those who are precious to you, but you're going to have to offer everything that you own to save the village from Kabuto and the Akatsuki."

Sasuke swallowed hard as he looked at the dagger on nightstand next to him. "Itachi, I've offered too much, I don't think that I can give anymore for this cause. The worst thing that I lost was you… I thought you were going to die last night. I don't like seeing you in pain," he shook his head, grasping onto his brother's arm. "I never wanted any of this pain for either of us; I thought I wanted you to be in pain, but seeing how you reacted that day when you thought I was going to die… I can't bear to watch that again. Itachi, please don't make me have to sacrifice you…"

The older Uchiha closed his eyes, inhaling sharply through his nose, his dark eyes opening again, his fingers curling tightly in the sheets, his knuckles turning white from the strength of his squeezing. Sasuke could feel the pain that was rolling through his brother, backing away from his body to watch his eyes close again.

"Brother?" Sasuke asked innocently.

"You really care about me don't you?" Itachi asked his voice starting to tremble with signs of guilt. "After all that I've done, after what I've become?" he laughed painfully. "After I've become a washed up weakling?"

"Caring about people isn't a sign of weakness," Sasuke answered, watching his brother turn away. "I still think that you're strong, Itachi, if that's any consolation. After all that you've done, the violence that I can never forgive you for, I still can't let you go. Not only are you my blood, but I love you… I would die for you. I would kill for you. I would do anything for you, Itachi," he moved to kiss him lightly on the lips. "This plan is going to come true, and if you won't do it for yourself and your own sake… then do it for me and my sake."

"Everything I do is for you," Itachi whispered on Sasuke's lips, feeling the young boy's breath slow down. "I would destroy this whole village just to grant you one more day of life."

Sasuke looked over at the blood. "Are you still bleeding?"

"A little," Itachi sighed. "But I'm not in pain anymore, that's a good sign."

"Yeah," Sasuke got up out of bed, straightening himself out. "I'm going to continue my work on medical jutsu. With the condition you're in… it's become more important that I understand it."

Itachi moved back up against the mattress, closing his eyes lightly. "Sasuke, please don't overexert yourself. As soon as I get better I'm going to continue your training. Your progress is more important than the pain that I'm going through right now," he coughed lightly, a single drop of blood falling to his pale skin, Sasuke moving closer to him.

"Itachi!" Sasuke called out looking at the blood on the fingers, grasping his wrist. "Are you alright? You're still bleeding, even after all of that trouble that I went through, all it came out to be is nothing more than…"

Their lips pressed against each others' again, Sasuke's words swallowed by a single moan. Everything for just a single moment just stopped as he realized that his brother was going to be alright, they were going to be alright. They were going to fight for each other for once and not just for themselves.

Sasuke thought back to a moment years ago when a stormed raged outside, as he sought the comfort of his brother's embrace. He remembered the words that he had said to him. He swore that he would never let anything happen to him, he kept his promise. Even with all of the pain that he had been through, he could still see that he had kept it his word all along, as he knew he would.

-----

They all looked at the ground as they stood in a circle, all three of them in complete silence from their travels in the past days. They never thought that they would have to do that much, never thought that they would have to be in the center of all of this pain. Silence rolled with the wind, that was until one of them spoke up.

"We know what's going on now…" Ino stated as she brushed the hair out of her face. "After all of this time, how could we have been so blind?"

"This whole time… Sasuke…" Chouji sighed. "Sasuke… was with his brother, he was…" he shook his head, "…training under him for weeks now."

Shikamaru sighed. "That explains the why he's been avoiding his team. It also explains the changes that he's gone through. It also explains our thoughts about his sexual relationship with Naruto. The love bites… they were all because of Itachi," he shook his head. "And that's why Sakura…"

There was another silence as they continued to look at the ground. All of this time, they thought that it was Itachi causing the problems, but the way that Sasuke had drawn closer to him, it was partly his fault too that this all happened. Yet the one who took Sakura was not Itachi, but a rival of him from the Sound Village. Although they thought that she was safe, there was a problem that they faced. Itachi had been trying to kill this rival ever since they met in Konoha.

"_If you don't get her back soon, Ino, she's going to be lost forever. Do you want that for your best friend? Do you want to lose them in this insane darkness that you can't pull them out of. If she gets too deep, we're going to have to kill her. That's if I get to her first."_

Itachi was going to kill Sakura if they waited too long. If they felt as though they couldn't follow through with their plan, Itachi was going to be the one to seek vengeance for the pain that he had caused his younger brother. Ino saw the way that he was dressed; she saw the crest on his back. He was loyal to Sasuke, and he would die for him. He would even kill a young girl to make amends.

"What do we do now?" Ino asked, looking at her teammates shakily. "We don't have much time before Sakura is going to be doing something reckless. If we stand around and wait too long, Itachi Uchiha is going to destroy her."

Chouji shuddered. "That's terrifying, so much pressure on us, it's kind of overbearing."

"But Sakura is a fellow ninja of Konoha and we will find a way to save her," Shikamaru explained. "Besides, if Sasuke has any sense to him, he'll try to hold off his brother for as long as possible. He's still on our side, and he will continue to be on our side until we do something to hurt him. We made a good choice not trying to hurt him or Itachi, otherwise we'd be dead by now…" he sighed. "But judging by the way that Ino confronted him and got out alive, we know that he won't hurt us."

"But Sakura is our concern," Ino stated bluntly. "With the new information on Kabuto Yakushi that we've gotten we could bring a better argument to the Hokage."

"Do you think he'll listen?" Chouji asked. "He didn't seem like he cared the last time that we asked him to go out and save her. What makes you thing that the information that we got is going to change his mind?"

Ino shook her head. "We don't have time to worry about that anymore. We're going to have to work harder to get stronger. We might have to use force against Itachi if it comes down to it. Hopefully he'll listen to reason and not do anything to drastic that could hurt our cause."

"Let's just hope that all of the information that he gave us is good enough to convince him to go ahead for the plan," Shikamaru closed his eyes as he turned away from them. "We have to go soon if we want to make an impression…"

Together they all walked side by side, looking toward the street that was ahead of them. Time was running out, they could feel Itachi's dark presence move closer to Sakura, killing her. The time was drawing nearer and it would only take a few words from the Hokage to stop all of the madness. Only that could save the lives that would be lost in the feud between Kabuto Yakushi and Itachi Uchiha. Only then could Konoha have a sense of security back without worrying about two high level ninja fighting on their territory.

That day was going to come now.

-----

Itachi opened his eyes looking around the room, looking at the blood that had stained the pillow. _I guess my body's still trying to compensate for all of that blood that I lost. _Rising to a sitting position, he looked around the room. Sasuke was nowhere in sight. Usually he would be worried, but he knew what Sasuke was doing: medical techniques. The look in his eyes as he said that the technique had become more imperative wasn't a lie; it was how he truly felt.

The events of the past weeks helped reinforce that, Itachi knew that he couldn't argue with him. One of them would have to become better at Mystical Palms, and it was destined to be Sasuke. Itachi was only good for absolute emergencies like the time in the woods; any internal damage was something that he couldn't be trusted with.

He sighed as he looked on the nightstand seeing a note. "Sasuke?" he reached to grasp the piece of paper, reading it quickly.

"_Itachi, I've gone to go consult Team 10 about the information on Orochimaru, don't worry, I left you in capable hands – Sasuke."_

Itachi sighed as he fell against the bed placing the note back on the nightstand. When Sasuke said _capable_ _hands_, what exactly did he mean? All of the wrongs that he had committed to him, were the hands that he was talking about supposed to make up for all of those wrongs? The second that he looked at the door, he knew that was the case.

"No way in Hell," Itachi cursed as he sat up in bed, looking at the man in front of him. "When the hell are you going to know what the words stay in bed mean?"

The man walked closer to him. "Itachi," he looked around the room, especially at the blood soaked pillow. "You aren't doing as well as you think you are. I heard about what happened last night."

"Well isn't that nice for you, Kakashi," Itachi scoffed, finally saying the man's name, moving closer to the pillows. "I was just in a little pain; it's not that bad, nothing for you to be concerned about."

"My student was crying on the phone while he talked about what happened," Kakashi continued, as he walked to the side of the bed. "He's never cried as much as he has when he's around you…" he shook his head. "You're never going to understand that he lives for you now, Itachi. You could have pulled this shit earlier when he wanted to kill you, but now that he loves you… he's dedicated to you… you can't just leave him."

Itachi coughed lightly, a trace amount of blood falling to the pillow, his fingers moving to wipe the liquid from his lips. He avoided Kakashi's glance as he closed his eyes. This was the last thing that he needed right now. All he wanted was to be alone in his thoughts, trying to find a way to go through with this plan and not have every person die from the effects. Sasuke only cried when he was around him, Itachi knew that. He knew that this was all going to explode in his face, he knew that Sasuke was going to turn on him. He clutched at his chest as he thought of what was coming, the hate that Sasuke had for him was going to come back, and everything that they had accomplished would be in vain. It would have been a greater waste of resources and time then they had ever wasted before.

"Itachi," Kakashi started as he looked down at him. "I want to know how you and Sasuke have been doing. Have you been making any progress with him?"

"Loads," Itachi answered weakly.

Kakashi wasn't unintelligent; Itachi knew that much for sure. He knew that the man knew what was going on: inner turmoil, with physical pain to match. The blood that was on his pillow caught his eyes, not allowing it to pull away from the bright red liquid. Slowly he put his hand up against Itachi's cheek feeling him shudder, the younger ninja trying to push away from him.

"I know what you're going to say, so don't bother," Itachi scoffed.

"Then you know that you broke your promise. I told you to take care of him, and you couldn't even do that," Kakashi shook his head. "Itachi, you know that I have faith in you, and I support what you're doing with Sasuke, but all of this…" he touched the blood on the pillow. "Don't you think that you're making him worry about you too much?"

Itachi clutched onto his stomach tighter, closing his eyes. "I didn't choose to be in this much pain…"

"Yes you did," Kakashi said quietly. "You chose to be in this much pain the second that you came back. You're dealing with it better than I thought you would," he sighed. "Maybe it's time for you to hand the boy over. You're only hurting yourself."

Itachi's hand fisted tightly at his own shirt, his eyes starting to burn with traces of red. "Hand him over? Kakashi, I told you that you could talk to your student; I told you that you could check up on your student, but I told you not to interfere with his training. What are you trying to do?"

Kakashi stood up, starting to walk toward the door. "I think it's about time I found Sasuke and Naruto a new tutor. You need to recover, Itachi. Look at you, you're covered with blood, and you can barely breathe. You need rest, you need to have some pressure taken off of you," he snickered lightly. "Maybe someday you can start training him again, but as for now, Sasuke is mine…"

"Then try to take him," Itachi growled, lifting the sheets, starting to get out of bed. "I want you to come over here and tell me that you want him back, and I'll tell you what I think," he took a few clumsy steps forward, stumbling just a little as he looked at the jounin. "I told you I'd give him back if he wanted to go with you."

"After I tell him how much pain you're in, he'll want to come back to me," Kakashi continued. "Itachi, I think you know what you're doing with the child, but think about your physical health, you're getting over serious wounds that could kill you if you aren't careful."

The jounin started to walk out of the room, leaving the house. Itachi wasn't going to take this, not from that man. After all that he had gone through for Sasuke, the pain that they had faced together, he wasn't going to lose him, even if he would have to kill for the right to have him. Slowly, he started following the jounin, his eyes transforming into the sharingan quickly.

"Kakashi!" he yelled as they both reached the outside. "Kakashi! Don't turn away from me. Come back here."

He was ignored as Kakashi kept walking.

"I said stop!" Itachi yelled, grasping Kakashi's arm. "I will fight for that boy, I would die right here for that boy. If you want him, you have to fight for him, even in your condition. Both of us are in no position to fight, both of us weakened severely, but I would like to know which one of us would win this fight."

"Itachi," Kakashi breathed as he turned to him. "What makes you think that you can have Sasuke?"

"Because I will crush you," Itachi smirked.

Kakashi scoffed. "You'll crush me? With what?"

Accepting the challenge, Itachi curled his hand into a fist and looked straight at Kakashi, letting him go. The jounin watched in awe as Itachi's right fist pushed up against the ground. He could hear the ground starting to shatter beneath them. Looking down, he saw it, a hole in the ground right where the Uchiha's fist had landed. He had been working on more than just medical and elemental ninjutsu. To be able to produce that much power just from a fist, he must have been not only training Sasuke, but also training himself.

Itachi lifted his hand out of the pit and brought his eyes up to meet Kakashi's. "With _that_. Do you still want Sasuke, Kakashi Hatake?" he raised his fist to the jounin's level, a smirk on his face. "Do you think that you'll survive this if I hit you? Do you think that you can go on living if I hit you with one of those hits?"

His vision moved down to the ground. _I've got to stop jerking Itachi around, if he has that kind of strength I'm going to get myself killed._

Itachi snickered as he lowered his hand. "That's what I thought. Face it, Kakashi, I'm a better teacher for Sasuke. I'm opening gateways that you never thought should be opened. I'm unleashing power that you were trying to cage all of this time," he took a step forward, placing his hand onto Kakashi's shoulder. "The boy is going to be a stronger ninja than Orochimaru; I swear on my life that I will make it so that man will never get the body that he desires."

The jounin sighed. "What does that have to do with me?"

"If I give him up to you, his growth will end here and I will lose him to that man," Itachi shook his head. "I will kill everyone in this Goddamn village as well as Sound to get him back. He belongs to me…"

"You're back to all of that possessive bullshit," Kakashi answered flatly.

Itachi curled his left hand into a fist. "Do you really want to mess with me right now? I can kill you if that's what you truly want, Kakashi," he curled his fist tighter. "I refuse to lose to you. You'll get Sasuke back when I'm done with him."

There was a long silence as they looked into each other's eyes, the flow of chakra radiating off of Itachi's fist was rolling down Kakashi's spine, chilling him to no end. One strike would be enough to take him down if he could make a dent into the earth. Kakashi was in no condition to fight against a dangerous technique like that. Then again, judging by the way that Itachi's eyes were watering, Kakashi wasn't even sure if he should be doing techniques at that level. He was still weak from the incident that he had last night.

"Sasuke will be crestfallen if you die," Kakashi said gently.

"Crestfallen? I doubt it, in a way I know that he'll be relieved, relieved that I'm finally out of his life," Itachi hissed. "The sooner I'm gone the sooner he can continue living the life that he always wanted. That's the day when he gets my power, the day when his hatred is going to become so strong that not even Orochimaru himself will be interested in him."

"Itachi," Kakashi sighed. "Why are you being such a pain about all of this? Why are you starting to doubt the relationship that you have with Sasuke? Why are you starting to doubt the way that you've been aiding him."

"He has to kill people, Kakashi," Itachi sighed, curling his fist tighter. "Tell me, has he ever killed a person in his life before I came into the picture? On all of the travels you went through together, has he ever legitimately killed a person before?"

The jounin watched as Itachi's eyes closed tightly, his body shaking slightly. "Itachi, it's difficult killing a person…"

"I know…" the younger ninja stated. "The first kill is the hardest especially the first person that you kill who was close to you. He might not be able to take the pain, he's not like me, I don't know if I came at the right time, but I had no other choice. He's winning…"

Kakashi gasped. "You mean Orochimaru?"

"He was going to come here to apply the Cursed Seal of Heaven onto Sasuke. The reason why I put so much urgency into hurting him was to make him heavily guarded so that Orochimaru would never be able to get to him. I came to check up on him that day to make sure that he was still safe from that monster, hurting you was something that I did for myself," he took a deep breath. "Now that Kabuto's here, everything has gotten more urgent. I'm not even sure if I can beat him off, now that he has Sakura, one of Sasuke's teammates. I don't know what to do anymore; I've tried to think of what to do thousands of times over and over again. Sakura must die… but Naruto… Naruto can live, even if it is nothing more than a life full of fear that one day, someone is going to come for him. He'll be able to live…"

Kakashi watched as Itachi feel to his knees, right in front of the dent in the ground. There was something different about him, something that Kakashi thought died four years ago when he started to turn from Konoha. It was still alive.

"He'll be alive," Itachi repeated as he looked up at Kakashi. "He'll be alive and Sasuke won't have to suffer the way that I did. He won't have to be like me, he won't have to wear these chains that I've been carrying for so long. He won't have to make the mistakes that I did…"

The wind blew as the jounin looked down at Itachi, his eye closing gently. "You really think your life was horrible, that everything that you did was a mistake. I thought you didn't make mistakes."

"Shut up," Itachi whispered. "I make mistakes, and there are some that I regret as I look back on them now. I broke a promise, how can I live knowing that I broke a promise?" he shook his head. "Now to make amends to what I did, I'm trying my hardest to show Sasuke that I'm still a human. I still have feelings…"

Itachi watched as Kakashi reached into his pocket. "Hold out your hand, Itachi," he looked down at the young ninja. "Please hold out your hand."

The Uchiha complied, noticing something familiar slipping onto his finger. "My ring? How did you…?"

"Sasuke took it off last night. He thought that you were going to die," Kakashi chuckled lightly. "So today before he left he gave it to me to give back to you. Here you go… your Akatsuki ring. You can wear this until you find that you finally beat every last one of them. You're going to destroy them and Orochimaru so that they will never be in action again."

Itachi smirked as the ring was fully slipped onto his finger. "You know, Kakashi, I still don't want you interfering in the training. The last thing that I want to do is to hurt Sasuke by killing you. Yet if you interfere, for even a second, then I will be forced to go to the absolute last resort… if that man gets at Sasuke, and Sasuke seeks his power…" he swallowed lightly. "I'll have to kill him myself; I'll have to kill the younger brother that I've been trying to save all along."

Kakashi reached a hand out to help Itachi back up. "Come on, you shouldn't be out here. I'll take you inside."

Itachi took a deep breath. "Kakashi…" he smiled weakly. "Thank you… for giving me my ring back."

Looking down at Itachi's face, Kakashi knew how the boy really felt. He wasn't thanking him solely for the ring. He was thanking him for coming to him that day, so he could confess his guilt to someone he could trust. Itachi could trust Kakashi with this information; the jounin would take this to the grave with him.

He gently pulled Itachi off of the ground, feeling him shiver, and started walking him back to the house. Through all of this pain, Kakashi hoped that Sasuke and Itachi would find some peace in their actions.

-----

Together, they all walked into the doorway of the office. This was their time to make all of the pain come to an end. Itachi's shadow would soon be lifted from their hearts and they'd be able to finally make their lives seem like they could accomplish the dream. They were going to save Sakura. For too long they had been watching as their comrades were pulled deeper into the darkness. Sakura was the one they were the most worried about.

It was he appointment that they had set up after Shikamaru and Ino had showed up at Iruka Umino's apartment bringing Chouji back to their side. Ino had gotten enough information from Itachi about Kabuto to bring an argument that Sakura was in grave danger. The Hokage couldn't turn them down with this news.

The old man looked over at them as they stood in the doorway. "Team 10, you've arrived," he sat up in his chair. "I hear that you've come with more information regarding the whereabouts of Sakura Haruno. What have you come up with?"

Shikamaru looked to his left at Chouji and then to his right at Ino before giving his full attention to the Hokage. "We've found out who she's has gone with, Lord Hokage, we've found information that tells us that she's gone with a man named Kabuto Yakushi to the Sound Village."

The old man was quiet for a moment, as if he was thinking about what the team had just said. Maybe it was more urgent than they thought it was. Yet there was no way in hell that Sakura was going to do something that reckless. If it was as dangerous as everyone said it was, she wasn't just going to do it. She was a sensible girl. But the way the Hokage was looking at them as they gave that information was a stern one, there was a sense of urgency now.

"Where did you get this information?" the old man asked, starting to stand up looking straight at Shikamaru.

"Sakura told me the last time that she was here," Ino answered, drawing the attention away from Shikamaru. "She came into the village a couple of days ago. She was wearing a Sound forehead protector, and said something about her being safe in the confides of the Sound Village. Is it that terrible?"

"The Sound Village is where one of the Legendary Sannin resides," Sarutobi continued in a stern voice. "You three think that you can take one of them on? Do you really think that if I send you in that direction you're going to come back in one piece?"

"Sir," Chouji started. "With all due respect…"

"You three are genin, even with a jounin in charge of you, do you think that I can really trust you all to come back?" he shook his head. "After what happened to Kakashi Hatake, I don't know what to do anymore."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Itachi Uchiha is not involved in this, Sir; the man who took her is Kabuto Yakushi. Ino saw him with her own two eyes and talked to Sakura about her newfound sensei. Why would Itachi Uchiha be involved in something like that? Why would he be after Sakura?"

The Hokage sighed. "Itachi Uchiha is an unstable mind; he can go after anything that he wants, whenever he wants. If he is involved in this, I'm going to have to call of the decree that I issued."

"He wasn't involved in this," Ino stated. _I know he wasn't I was talking to him about this only yesterday. Why would he be trying to attack a man that he was aiding all along? That doesn't make sense._

"Sir…" Chouji started again.

"Itachi Uchiha is involved in this until you give me one valid reason why he wouldn't be," the Hokage sat down, looking down at the paperwork in front of him. "Why wouldn't he want to harm this village?"

"Because he's only interested in one thing," a voice called from the doorway, all of the people in the room's attention now on him, their eyes widening in shock at the sight. "Me…"

Ino took a deep breath before uttering the person's name. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?" she watched as he walked closer to the desk. "Shouldn't you be with…?"

Sasuke looked back at her. "I came to help you guys out," he looked over at the Hokage. "Lord Hokage, I am sure that Itachi has nothing to do with this. My brother told me that he only had interest in me. Everything else doesn't matter to him. Sakura Haruno has done nothing to help his plan, but she is in grave danger by associating with the Sound Village," Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. "Itachi Uchiha has a rivalry with the man that she went with and he will stop at nothing until the two of them are dead."

There was a silence as they all heard Sasuke say those words. Ino shook her head at the sound. Was Sasuke trying to stab his brother in the back? Was he trying to hurt everything that he and Itachi had been striving for? Did he know the consequences of foiling a criminal's plan, especially a criminal at Itachi's level of power?

"In that case, I'm going to have to find a team of jounin to carry this out," Sarutobi took a deep breath. "You children will…"

"You don't understand the urgency do you? There's more than just Itachi Uchiha to worry about. She's on her way to the Sound Village, she's fair game for whatever Orochimaru wants," Sasuke slammed his hands up against the table. "She's going to the village to seek shelter from a Sannin, from one of your students!"

The room was silent as Sasuke's eyes looked straight into the leader of their village's. He cared about Sakura more than anyone in this room. Why? He felt that he was partly responsible for all of this. If he had told her about him and Itachi's relationship, if he hadn't been trying to get stronger for Orochimaru, if he had killed his brother that night, none of this would be happening. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto would all be a team again. They would be happy. It would have been just like the old days before this nightmare happened. Yet here he stood, still asleep in this ethereal slumber, he was too far into this to ever get out.

"Orochimaru is trying to find another body for his technique; he's trying to find a probable container. The more Kabuto teaches her, the more he's molding her more into his liking. The urgency is greater than you think it is," Sasuke pushed deeper into the desk, pain searing through his palms. "Please, Lord Hokage, I beg you before something horrible happens, I beg you to stop this madness, stop the village's pain."

Team 10 looked at Sasuke as he bowed his head, his eyes closing gently. Ino and Chouji reached out their hands to touch his back feeling, his breathing start to become labored. They looked up at the Hokage waiting for his answer to the request. They wished that they received a different answer.

"Until the problem arises to a greater degree," he looked down at his paperwork, trying to ignore Sasuke's shaking hands. "Thank you for worrying about your teammate, but the last thing that I'm going to do is involve you in this. You've already been through enough pain."

Shikamaru bowed as he looked at Sasuke, who was breathing heavily. "Thank you for your time, Sir," he stood up and started walking toward the door, watching as Ino and Chouji walked out with Sasuke in tow. "That was a disaster," he said upon exiting of the room, pulling out a cigarette. "That old man needs to understand the urgency."

Sasuke walked by all of them as Shikamaru lit his cigarette. He hated himself for everything that happened in there. Even though he tried to stop something that he knew was going to happen, he was turned down. He saw the look in Itachi's eyes as he spoke of Kabuto Yakushi and Sakura Haruno; they were going to die at his hand. Itachi rarely went back on his word.

"Sasuke?" Ino asked, watching him start to walk away. "Why did you come here?"

The Uchiha sighed as he stopped in his tracks. "I thought that if I were to help you guys that maybe we could save Sakura, but once again, I was too weak to do anything. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't even save one of my teammates."

The girl shook her head. "You were going to sell your brother out to save Sakura? Are you out of your mind? He'd kill you…"

"I wasn't selling him out," Sasuke took a deep breath. "I'm trying to stop him from making a huge mistake. Killing Sakura is a mistake that not even he could bear. I'm not going to let him kill someone that I feel is important to me."

Shikamaru took a drag of the cigarette, his eyes watering slightly. "Damn it, even with these Goddamn things I can't get a decent idea," he looked over at Sasuke. "I guess it's up to you to stop Itachi from killing Sakura, only you can help us through this."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. "I know that you all think that I can control Itachi, but after what Sakura's done… if she keeps doing it… I might be drawn to the idea of killing her as well. There might be no hope for her…"

Chouji shook his head. "There has to be a way, even if we have to sacrifice our lives to help you, we will…"

"I can't let you aid me and Itachi, you all could get in trouble, tried for treason," Sasuke grasped the handle of his dagger nervously. "I must do this on my own," he walked forward, not looking back at the three ninja behind him. He was going to have to bargain with Itachi on his own, it was the only way to save Sakura and Naruto. It was up to him. He had to prove that he wasn't weak.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter didn't really move the story along that much, but it's starting to wind down (eleven more chapters). I'm glad that to know that a lot of you are relieved to know that Itachi is going to be alright for a little while. The next few chapters are going to bring Naruto back (because you're probably wondering where he went off to), I hope that you continue to enjoy. 


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that has ot do with Naruto...

**Warnings: **This chapter contains blood/violence, references to child abuse, thoughts of homicide, some crude language, incest (both ItaSasu, and ShisIta), yaoi, references to sexual situations, references to rape, OOC, and the canon isn't a huge factor. There are also a lot of errors in here that I didn't catch, but the chapter is shorter than the last few. I hope you enjoy.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, ShisIta, references to KakaIta

* * *

Sasuke dropped the dagger to the ground as he walked through the door looking down at Itachi. Neither of them could talk about what had been happening for the current situation of their lives. Every step that they tried to take was nothing more than a mistake in the scheme of things. Right now even as they looked at each other directly in the eyes, they couldn't say a thing. They were speechless. 

As the young boy walked past him, Itachi looked at his side, straight at the dagger. Sasuke had not let that weapon out of his sight for a second, the dagger becoming more precious than his life. It was strange. Itachi never thought that Sasuke would become this talented. He sighed as he realized everything that he had ever said about being skilled was right, it makes a person arrogant and isolated. Sasuke rarely talked to him, making his work seem like the most important thing in the world.

_I set a great example for him, _Itachi sighed as he looked at the blade, his vision moving back up to Sasuke who was flipping through the pages of the books that they had strewn across the floor. He was working hard to find a way to make everything that he made wrong, right again. It was leaving Itachi alone in the darkness.

The silence continued to fill the air as Itachi closed his eyes, thinking about all that he had done. He was so close to making everything pay, he was so close to ultimate power. Yet he felt as he progressed on this road, it was only going to lead to more pain, it was only going to lead to another dead end that he would have to pull him and Sasuke away from. He was risking everything that they had ever done with this act. This was the final ante of the game.

He grasped the dagger as he looked over his shoulder, at Sasuke. The boy was determined; he had been ever since he first learned that technique. Itachi never thought in all of his life that Sasuke would learn Mystical Palms; he never knew that it would be a specialty. Never once did he consider that Sasuke was going to save his life the way that he did. It had hit him, he couldn't do anything more than Sasuke anymore, he was becoming a shadow of what Sasuke was going to be.

"Do you need any help?" Itachi asked his brother, trying to convince himself that maybe Sasuke was struggling with something.

"No," Sasuke answered flatly as he flipped through the pages of the book, ignoring Itachi's request. "I'm fine on my own right now."

He was fine on his own. Damn, Itachi was really starting to become useless. He grasped the dagger tighter. That damn dagger. That was the cause of all of his pain. That night when Shisui tried to kill him, the night when he underestimated Itachi was forever going to be seared into this legacy, another series of links for the heavy chains that he bore.

Standing up, he started to walk out of the house to sit outside, the wind gently blowing. Itachi hated the weather these days, it was depressing. It was foreshadowing something, their inevitable defeat. He wasn't even sure that he could do this anymore. He was sick of running away, he didn't want to take that road again, but going through with it was going to hurt Sasuke deeper than he ever thought he could.

He had to make a choice, he could either risk everything that Sasuke had or he could offer himself to the Akatsuki and Orochimaru and admit defeat. Both options were fully open these days.

He grasped the dagger tightly. _I've come too far for any of this; I've come too far to give up just like that. _Itachi closed his eyes as he felt the handle of the dagger, remembering Shisui's hands, the hands that had clutched this dagger originally, the one that this weapon was forged for. Itachi brought the dagger closer to his chest as he thought about the times that he had with Shisui. It was a far off memory. The more he remembered, the more that the clean metal of the knife became rusted, tarnished beyond recognition.

"Shisui," he breathed, grasping the dagger tighter still. "Damn it…"

His skin was on the verge of being sliced as he grasped onto the blade, crying out in pain as he felt the metal dig into his skin. _"Why are you always so distant from me?" _Itachi loosened his grip as he swore he could hear Shisui speaking to him.

"Shisui…?" he looked back down at the dagger.

"_Why are you always so distant from me?"_

_Four years ago…_

Itachi sat on the edge of his bed, closing his eyes as he absorbed the question that he had just been asked. How was he supposed to answer that? He draped his arm over his side, bowing his head, avoiding the question as well as his cousin's glance. The distance between them made him feel that Shisui was safe from everything that was occurring in Itachi's life. He wasn't going to be blamed for anything that Itachi was bearing pain for.

"Itachi?" Shisui asked, grasping his cousin's shoulders, shaking him lightly. "What is it? What's going on with you?" Itachi didn't answer. "I'm not the only one who's curious you know. Your brother is too. He wants to know what's going on with you. Why are you acting like this?"

The younger Uchiha shook his head as he moved away from Shisui. "It's none of your business."

"None of my business?" Shisui asked, his voice thick with annoyance. "You made this my business. Do you have any idea how long I've been telling people that you're not feeling well? That's why you refuse to communicate with them. Do you have a clue how much I've been trying to tell your father that it's just ANBU that's making you act like this?"

Itachi lay back on his bed snickering lightly. "I wonder why _he's _worried."

The look in Shisui's black eyes stole the laughter from Itachi, replacing it with absolute nothingness, not even a single breath left his lips. They were cold, spiteful, full of hatred as he looked upon his body. Itachi shivered as he feared hat was going on in his cousin's mind, fearing the malice that it was going to bring, fearing that it had to do with him. He backed away more, closing his eyes slightly.

"Did that bastard Hatake do something to you?" Shisui asked, the anger not leaving his voice. "If he hurt you…"

"Shisui," Itachi breathed. "It's not Kakashi… it's my father…"

"You said that he…" Shisui shook his head. "You told me that the conflict between you two was over. You promised me that it was going to end. Damn it, Itachi," he sat next to him on the bed. "He's hurting you…"

Itachi shook his head. "It's not that big of a deal," he said lightly.

"Not that big of a deal?" Shisui clenched his hands into fists, slamming them up against his legs, his sable eyes closing as he fought the emotion that was starting to break free. "Maybe to you this isn't a big deal, but to me it's huge," he swallowed hard. "He's killing you, Itachi! He's killing you!" he shook his head again trying to ease the thoughts in his mind. "And I'm not going to sit back and let it all happen."

There was a sigh that escaped the younger boy's lips. "Then don't…"

"What?" Shisui snapped.

"Then you don't have to…" Itachi breathed, standing up from his bed, walking toward the door. "You have it easy, Shisui, you get pissed at that man and you can just get up and leave, you can just walk away from it all. Well I can't," he looked back at him. "I'm stuck here, I was born into this family, the head of this cursed clan. As for you, you've more freedom that I have, the freedom that I want more than anything."

There was a silence as the rain hit the window, not even the sound of the young boys breathing could be heard. Shisui was the first one to make a noise, he sighed as he looked straight at his cousin, trembling body. He knew what Itachi had been hiding.

"How long ago did he do that to you?" he asked pointing to Itachi's side, watching the hand tremble as he held on tighter. "Itachi, if he's been hurting you, you have to tell someone. You won't be able to last much longer if you keep on living like this. I'm worried about you."

He placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder, causing the latter to gasp by how fast he came to his side. "Shisui, I'm going to be alright, it's just a little bruise… it'll heal… everything's going to be…" he gasped as he felt his words being interrupted by Shisui's lips, his arms wrapping around him tightly, pulling him closer to his body.

_Shisui, _he returned the kiss as he felt his cousin's tear fall down his own cheek. Itachi knew that the conflict going on hurt Shisui, it made him want to do something sometimes. Back when they were younger, Shisui used to make threats that he was going to kill that _bastard_ if he continued to hurt him like that. He prayed that telling Shisui that it was over was enough to stop the violent urges, but much like everything else that he did, it only lasted a while, leaving a mark on his own sanity.

Shisui backed away, still embracing his cousin as the rain fell down harder than it ever had before, Shisui's tears joining the storm outside in conjunction. There was nothing to his tears; Itachi wasn't even sure what they were tears of. Was Shisui saddened by what Itachi had to endure? Or was he angered by the fact that Fugaku Uchiha would do that to his favored son? Itachi couldn't feel it, he couldn't feel how he felt on the inside these days.

Ever since they opened that scroll, ever since they found out the secret of the sharingan together, Shisui himself had become more distant than Itachi could ever be. The source of this distance wasn't able to be sensed. Every time they were together, they barely spoke, even in their most intimate moments they couldn't speak to one another. They were constantly thinking of what that power would bring, constantly wondering what would happen if they killed each other. It broke Itachi's heart the more that he realized that Shisui was digging into his past; even spying on his ANBU affairs, getting suspicious of what Kakashi Hatake was doing to him.

"It's my fault he's doing this to you," Shisui breathed, running his fingers through Itachi's ponytail, his eyes locking with his cousin's. "If I never told you how I felt about you…"

"You did nothing wrong," Itachi argued. "I felt the same way that you did, even if it was wrong, I loved you Shisui," he smirked, brushing his lips against Shisui's cheek, feeling the embrace tighten abruptly. "I will always love you…"

"More than anything?" Shisui asked, continuing to stroke Itachi's back. "Do you love me more than anything? No matter where else we wind up, will you always remember me, no matter what the circumstance?" he backed away slowly. "I will love you until the day that I die, Itachi, I will love you forever, even in death, my love for you will not die. It will live on in you."

Itachi smiled lightly as he took his cousins hand, holding onto it tightly. He knew that there was no way that he could love Shisui that much, it would never be equal. Every time that he was with Shisui, there was something there, but it wasn't deep enough to be love, it wasn't as nauseating. He was sickening, he was heartless to be using Shisui like this. He was a monster to seek comfort in a person who loved him when he would never be able to share the same feelings.

"Mine too," Itachi breathed hesitantly, feeling Shisui's hand move to his side where the bruise that his father had left him with resided.

The hatred was still there, he knew it would always be deep within Shisui's heart. The way that he was looking at him showed this, the way that he tried to stand up to him. Shisui had threatened to kill Itachi's father, even if it took all that strength in his body. His soul was never going to be at rest if that man didn't die.

Itachi placed his hand on top of Shisui's, feeling it shake in anger, his other hand grasping the dagger that was on his side. Their hands met on the handle of the dagger, Itachi easing it back into its sheath, shaking his head. There was going to be no blood tonight, not when Sasuke was sleeping a few rooms down.

"You're too quick to draw that dagger," Itachi scolded, not letting go of the said dagger. "That dagger is going to be someone's undoing…"

"It's going to be the undoing of something that you're trying to protect," Shisui snapped back. "You're scared of this dagger, whenever I touch it, I see that look in your eyes, I see the fear. You're afraid that someone is going to die by this dagger, you're afraid that someone is going to get hurt from this dagger. You're scared, Itachi, you're always scared of everything. That's why you're always in pain, that's why you're always running away and shutting yourself out. You've given up too soon, you give up to easy, it's pathetic."

Itachi watched as his cousin walked toward the door. "You think that I give up too easily? Is that what you really think of me?"

"I think that you aren't as strong as you think you are," Shisui breathed. "It's all because of that man telling you that you're strong, when you really aren't. You're a sad excuse for a ninja, Itachi."

"Take that back," Itachi hissed.

"No," Shisui breathed. "I won't, if you want to continue to have that man hit you until you cry, then you continue to do it I'm not going to stand for it," he shook his head. "Itachi, you need to get a spine…"

Itachi fell to his knees, his body shaking with small tremors. "Take that back!"

Without a single word of comforting, Shisui left the room, leaving Itachi to lay softly on the ground, empty. He said that he loved him, but all he did was try to dance on his dreams, not even with undertones of support. The day when Shisui started to destroy the clan, Itachi was not only going to be the first death, but the bloodiest. It was Shisui's way for being poetic. Itachi was broken from birth to death.

"I thought you loved me," he closed his eyes as he heard the first crash of thunder outside. A smile came to his face as he realized there was hope for him in this darkness. "One may remain alive…"

_Present day…_

"Sasuke…" he grasped the dagger tighter as he looked down at the weapon that Shisui was talking about.

That damn dagger, it caused nothing but problems, spreading curses to his life. Even in death Shisui was trying to antagonize him, tell him that he was worthless. He had worth now; there was someone who needed him more than anything. There was someone that he could truly love, someone that he could actually love back. This was more than just half love; this was the real deal. Compared to that sensation, Shisui was nothing but a memory that started to rust away too tainted for Itachi to make out anymore.

He grasped the dagger tighter, thinking about all that he had gone through, all of the hardships. If Shisui was still alive he wouldn't have been able to make it without Itachi, he never thought to the future. Itachi made Shisui feel like he could aspire to be something, brought attention to him when everyone else was focusing elsewhere. He knew that his cousin had become unwell once his title was taken, once he had to settle for being second best. Shisui the Mirage hid behind that name; there was nothing more to him once he was stripped of it, nothing more than a power hungry overconfident idiot. His arrogance was his downfall.

Even though the hatred for Shisui came out in the thoughts that were running through Itachi's mind, there was more to it. He said that he loved him, and it annoyed him everyday when Shisui tried to brush the emotional abuse off as nothing. Itachi tried to forgive him, he was always too forgiving toward his best friend, always too attached to him to let go. Itachi was a fool to think that man loved him; he was a fool to think that any of those words that he said were true.

As he held him under the water that day, he thought of all of the pain that he caused him. It outweighed the happiness. He didn't kill the clan for Shisui; he didn't give a damn whether his soul was at peace or not. He had tried to convince himself that he did it for his dead cousin to prove that he could amount to something. He didn't know why he did anything. All he knew was there was no turning back, this was the life that he was handed. He could either embrace it as a gift, or he could spurn it like it was a curse. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his brother working to get stronger, not resting for even a breath. He finally understood that this was a gift, a gift that he had to suffer significantly to obtain.

_My suffering is starting to weigh out; it's starting to become a little more bearable to go through this. Then again I have to prove that this dagger isn't going to destroy my dream, _he looked down at the Godforsaken blade seeing nothing but Sasuke's blood dripping , all he could feel was the warm liquid in between his fingers. The cursed dagger, the weapon of Shisui the Mirage, he hated that blade, fearing it would destroy his dream. If it had to destroy anything, it was going to destroy the source of his aspirations: it was going to destroy him.

Taking a dangerously deep breath, he dropped the dagger, his hands moving to clasp over his face, a single labored breath seeping through his lips. Everything that he had gone through, it wasn't working the way that he wanted it to. He wasn't even sure if he could do this anymore. There was no telling whether he was even going to win this battle against Kabuto and Sakura, there was not telling whether Sasuke was going to be able to do what he had to if it came down to it.

Sasuke would have to make a choice: kill his best friend or let that organization take hold of them so they could further their goal. It all rested on his shoulders, it was up to him whether this plan was going to work or not. He hoped that Sasuke made the right decision, fearing that he was going to freeze when he was needed the most. He could already tell that Sasuke was starting to develop a problem with blood. After seeing Itachi cough up so much of it, he wished that he would never have to go through that again. The worst came on that night when Sasuke spent hours trying to revive Itachi, covering his whole body with his blood as he faded away.

How could he expect to do this when all he did was scar Sasuke deeper than he had ever been scarred before? All he did was cause pain, even as he was able to adopt human qualities around him and stop living the elaborate lie that he was living for so long. Still after all of the apologies that he told to Sasuke, all of the strings he tried to pull, it all came down to this, he would have to be heartless in order to get both of them out alive. Kabuto destroyed all chances of this being easy, especially since he was able to get that girl onto his side.

"_It's going to be the undoing of something that you're trying to protect. You're scared of this dagger, whenever I touch it, I see that look in your eyes, I see the fear. You're afraid that someone is going to die by this dagger, you're afraid that someone is going to get hurt from this dagger. You're scared, Itachi, you're always scared of everything. That's why you're always in pain, that's why you're always running away and shutting yourself out. You've given up too soon, you give up to easy, it's pathetic."_

He looked down at the weapon, his fingers moving toward it as he remembered the look on his face the day when he said all of those cold words. Every single word was sharper and cut deeper than that blade itself.

"_I thought that maybe I could find more happiness in you than any of those other people ever gave me. I was hoping that you would show me that I am not just a person that be thrown away. I want to prove that I can move on without his hands strangling the life out of me." _

He grasped the blade, his eyes blurring with the start of tears. It burned; it seemed like an eternity since he could shed real tears and actually break down. How could he hold them back any longer? He'd not only been plagued with the pain that he had given Sasuke, but also by Shisui's memory, Kakashi's intrusion, and Kabuto's sick desires. He was now here with all of the fighting to break him, and it was starting to work.

He felt the first tear start to fall down his cheek as footsteps approached behind him. It was Sasuke. All of the commotion must have drawn him to the outside to see what Itachi was doing. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Sasuke looking down at him his own eyes starting to water at the sight of the tear rolling down his brother's cheek. They couldn't pull their vision away from each other, Sasuke starting to move closer.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked, dropping the dagger to the ground watching as Sasuke came closer to him, capturing him in a deep embrace. Closing his eyes, he tightened the hug, feeling Sasuke's body becoming wracked with sobs, he had reached his limit.

The genin took a deep breath, kissing at Itachi's neck, whispering words of affection incoherently up against his neck. The fact was that Sasuke was afraid of that dagger himself, it had a hypnotic effect on his brother that he didn't like, it was trying to destroy everything that they had worked so hard for.

"It's like even though he's dead, he's still in your heart," Sasuke whispered, kissing at Itachi's shoulder. "I don't want you to think about that bastard, Itachi," he backed away to wipe the moisture from beneath Itachi's eye, his other hand moving to grasp the dagger.

Itachi stayed silent as he watched Sasuke's hand tighten around the handle of the dagger, his eyes narrowing at the thought of Shisui's hand wielding that weapon. Sasuke hated Shisui; he always hated Shisui, even when they were younger he used to look at their cousin with so much loathing Itachi could suffocate on it as he breathed. This moment was no different; the toxic aroma of disdain coming from Sasuke's jagged breaths.

"I don't like seeing you like this," Sasuke breathed as he looked into his brother's sorrowful eyes. "Itachi, get a hold of yourself…"

The older Uchiha closed his eyes as he recalled Shisui more distinctly, he had been checking up on him for the police department, reporting to the very clan that they both hated together. He didn't do it for them; Shisui did it to get negative attention on Itachi. Their intense rivalry was a dangerous one, just like Sasuke and Naruto's.

_Damn it! _He made the connections; they had a lot in common. Both friendships seemed like they were always going to support each other and help each other reach their goals even if they knew their motives were wrong. And no matter what they were always forgiving each other. It was the most dangerous kind of friendship that Itachi could ever think of, it was the kind where someone was bound to get seriously injured. It was just like Itachi and Shisui's, and if he wasn't careful it was going to end just like his did. One of them would have to carry the weight of the other one's hatred for an eternity. He knew that it was going to be Sasuke. He didn't want that pain for Sasuke, if he did manage to unlock the power of the mangekyou sharingan; he just hoped that Naruto would never say the words that Shisui had said the days before he died. He would kill Naruto with his bare hands if he ever heard him say anything like that.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, moving closer to his brother's body, his breath still jagged from crying. "What's going on with you these days? Ever since Kabuto came to Konoha you've been acting strangely," he shook his head as he tried to get the thoughts out of his head. "Itachi… is there anything… anything at all… that I can do to make you feel better on the inside, to make you not so depressed. Is there anything I can do to save our plan before we become too confused to even move?"

Itachi closed his eyes; taking a deep breath looking at the dagger that Sasuke was sliding back into its sheath. There was only one thing that he could do, no matter how difficult it was. No matter how much it would hurt, there was only one thing that would put this fear to rest, and insure that Sasuke wasn't going to get vitally wounded during this quest.

"Sasuke, there is one thing for you to do," Itachi released Sasuke from the embrace, closing his eyes, shielding his face from the young boy's sight, hearing him gasp in shock and confusion. "Go…"

There was a small silence as the wind blew through their ears, Itachi's breath finally easing up from the heavy labored rhythm that he was experiencing earlier. Sasuke could only stare in disbelief as Itachi said that word. He had never told him to do that before, usually when he got like this, the last thing that he wanted was to be alone. Trying to console him, he placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling his muscles tense. He knew that this was serious, it had a deeper reason than he thought it did, it was more than just his brother wanting to be alone while he sulked.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed, swallowing difficultly, moving his hands to show Sasuke his face, his eyes bleeding with urgency. "Go to him…" he took another deep breath, this was one a struggle for him. "Go to Naruto…"

The wind blew cold up against Sasuke's flesh, a shiver flowing through him as he heard those words coming from his brother's lips. He usually wanted to keep him all to himself, but now he was letting him go out on his own without the slightest worry in his heart. Itachi was opening a door that Sasuke thought was locked a long time ago.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked.

"Tell him," the older Uchiha explained. "Tell him that there is a way for him to live. He can stay in Konoha while I go out and exterminate the Akatsuki. It will be a life full of fear, but it will be a life none-the-less. It could be better than death," he sighed heavily. "I'll take out Kabuto as soon as I can and put that girl that's with him in her place. He has an option; it is his life after all."

"Itachi…" Sasuke smiled lightly. "That's the most human thing you've done this whole mission," he hugged him again before standing up, looking down at him with a quick glance. "I'll do exactly what you say this time, I won't screw up again," he started walking toward the door.

"Go," Itachi smiled while he watched his brother walk out the door. _Please don't let this be too late. Don't let the two of them hate each other so much that they will feel nothing but blood thirst toward one another. I've seen what that's done to people, and I don't like the effects of any of this. I'm going to kill this before it blossoms into extreme hatred._

He wiped the remnants of his single tear as he looked up at the starry sky. _A team of three genin, every single one of them choosing different paths, it piques my interest. Whose choice is going to be the most efficient? Whose choice is going to lead them in the right direction to a better life?_

Pulling himself together, he looked down at the ring that was on his finger, he was going to win this. On the day when he walked away from that organization he vowed that he would make all of them pay for their choice to join Orochimaru, there was no doubt in his mind. He was going to start that bloody example with Kabuto Yakushi.

He looked down at the book of medical ninjutsu and then at the door where Sasuke had walked out of. That child had potential to be something, that child had the ability to be stronger than anyone on his team including Kakashi Hatake. It was a gift that he would have never been able to see if Itachi hadn't removed the blindfold from his eyes, if he hadn't freed him from their poisonous spell.

"_You're scared, Itachi, you're always scared of everything. That's why you're always in pain, that's why you're always running away and shutting yourself out. You've given up too soon, you give up to easy, it's pathetic."_

He vowed that he was going to make them all pay and in turn, he vowed that he was never going to give up again. He wasn't as pathetic as everyone thought; he wasn't the weakling that Kabuto was taunting the whole journey. Itachi Uchiha was different. The old Itachi had been destroyed, never to be heard from again. But this Itachi was the new one, it was the one who was going to make them all see the wonder he'd become. He had changed into something beautiful. He had become human.

-----

Sasuke ran faster down the streets, his breath catching in his throat. Itachi had sent him on another mission to Naruto, only this one was different, it was one that he couldn't screw up no matter how hard he tried. He didn't have to kill him; all he had to do was talk to Naruto to give him the options of his future.

The options were what surprised Sasuke; there was something different about his brother. Itachi usually would have told him to finish him off quickly so that they could be done with this, but he had done a lot of thinking over the past few days and he had finally come to this. There was a way to save Naruto, but it was dangerous for Itachi, he would have to go head on with the members of his organization, half of which he probably wouldn't even be able to beat. Itachi was sacrificing everything for this plan. That was what a ninja was about, self-sacrifice. Yet was it fair? Itachi had been giving up so much or Sasuke and yet he never got anything in return. When Sasuke said this to Itachi, he would shake his head saying that his virginity and life was enough of a trade, it was time for Itachi to payback what he owed to Sasuke after _damaging _him.

This was all about Sasuke now; he knew it was because Itachi remembered the tears that he cried after he tried to kill Naruto. Sasuke could remember Itachi's reaction like it was yesterday. Instead of hurting him again, he hugged him tightly and told him that it was alright, that he did better than he thought he would at his current level. This was because he knew that Naruto dying would break Sasuke's heart which would in turn hurt Itachi even deeper.

"_Tell him; tell him that there is a way for him to live. He can stay in Konoha while I go out and exterminate the Akatsuki. It will be a life full of fear, but it will be a life none-the-less. It could be better than death. He has an option; it is his life after all."_

Sasuke smiled as he remembered those words coming from his brother, he was still alive in there. The real Itachi that he loved as a child had never died, all of these years when he feared that monster; it took him this long to realize that it was dead. He laughed at a younger, more ignorant him, one that couldn't see the pain that Itachi had gone through. He was a fool to have not seen the signs when they were growing up that Itachi had been subjected to so much. He was a fool to miss that fact.

He closed his eyes as he kept running. He was the link who was going to bring Team 7 back together. He was going to make it seem as though none of this ever happened. All three of them made their mistakes, he had to stop the mistakes before they got to be too much to handle. He couldn't let them get caught up in the magic of their current lives, especially not Sakura.

Sakura, she was the one who he couldn't save, Itachi's eye had fallen onto her, and there was no way for her to get out of his deadly range once they met again. Sasuke saw the good in her; all Itachi could see was her hand driving the dagger deeper into Sasuke's chest, all he could see was her with Kabuto. He wanted to kill her, and he would destroy anyone who got in his way.

"_I'll take out Kabuto as soon as I can and put that girl that's with him in her place." _Those were his exact words pertaining to Sakura. The hatred that they had toward one another would never cease until one of them fell. Sasuke didn't want to sound sexist, but Itachi would defeat Sakura in a heartbeat, not even giving her a chance to fight back. If Kakashi seemed like an amateur to him, why would Sakura stand anymore of a chance? Sasuke had to stay close to make sure that no one got too seriously injured who he felt didn't need that great of injury. Even if Sakura deserved death, she hadn't hurt them that badly yet, the second that she laid a foul hand on Itachi was the second that he would let her die.

He thanked God that Naruto hadn't gotten himself in a tight situation like that. If he had, he would have been dead long ago. Itachi was ruthless when he had to be; even now he still had a violent streak, Sasuke feared that someone was going to get hurt. That's why tonight was a surprise to Sasuke as Itachi sat there starting to cry, holding the dagger close, and those three words coming from his lips.

"_Go to Naruto…"_

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that it was another flashback chapter, but I wanted to expand more upon how Itachi feels about friendships as well as the destruction of the one that he had with Shisui. The next chapters are going to draw you to the end (I know I keep saying that, but it's true now.) Naruto's coming back in the next chapter. So what did you think of it? Good? Bad? Was this chapter boring? Honesty is my policy. 


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that has to do with this anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter contains some blood/violence, crude language, thoughts of incest, references to rape, yaoi, references to sexual sitautions, references to homicide, thoughts of suicide, OOC, and the canon barely makes an appearance. This chapter is also pretty short compared to the rest and there are a lot of errors in here. Naruto is also back into the story.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, some SasuNaru, slight NaruSaku, references to SasuSaku

* * *

He grasped the handle of the dagger tighter, there were options now, Itachi had finally come up with a way that Naruto could survive all of this, he had finally found a way that he wasn't going to break Sasuke more. For once he had remained stable on something, a trait that Itachi Uchiha never seemed to posses in his life. He was changing for the better every second that Sasuke was next to him. He worked harder, he let his emotions loose, he actually thought of someone before himself. These past few months helped Sasuke realize that this time was much needed for the both of them. The fateful night by the river was exactly what he needed. 

_Thank you for that, Itachi. Thanks to you I can finally set my heart free and let go of all of the hatred that I once had for those in the way of my dream. I just wished that we could have been like this earlier in our lives, not under these circumstances, _he stopped for a second to catch his breath, his lungs burning as he inhaled.

Itachi was going to work him harder these days if he believed that Sasuke would make his way to Orochimaru. Sasuke allowed himself to get stuck in the middle of something greater than he ever thought he would get involved in. The wounds that they would suffer were to be great, emotional and physical. There was only so much that Mystical Palms was going to heal, the rest was going to be stuck with him. There was no turning back now, Itachi gave him a million chances to get out of this, but every single time Sasuke would chase after the danger and walk into the flames with Itachi. Even though he knew it scared the hell out of his brother, Sasuke was prepared to run into Hell and back for him. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for the plan.

Except one thing, he couldn't kill Naruto, he would never kill Naruto. He had tried that night, the sight of those blue eyes were forever imprinted in his memories. Every time that he thought of it, his body froze, he couldn't bear the pain. The memory of Naruto's dying body; along with Itachi's blood smeared all over his hands made his heart skip a beat, his whole being shaking with every passing moment. He wasn't sure if he could take anymore violence through this mission, he wasn't sure that he would be able to see Itachi get hurt by Kabuto or Sakura. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to progress with the thought of Itachi's blood still glazing him.

Flashes of horror with crimson splashes were running through his mind, remembering the chakra that was surging through his hands as he brought Itachi back from the brink of death. He should have been trying right now; he should have been working on the techniques that Itachi had been teaching him. Water techniques were easier now, medical ninjutsu also coming to him naturally. There were several things that he would need more work with, he wished that he could have desperately learned that clone technique as well as deal with the strength augmentation. Every time that he saw Itachi land a hit with chakra into his fist, he saw the damage from that night.

Itachi was perfect; there were no flaws to his ninja techniques. Everything that he had shown Sasuke was done with ease, it was so impressive, it was almost erotic. He wasn't too proud to tell himself that he felt somewhat aroused every time that he saw his brother use that new found strength for his taijutsu techniques. How could he not feel that way? Only a crazy person would be able to contain themselves as he punched into the ground, his hair falling gently to his face, sticking to the flesh with sweat, the breathless panting seeping from his lungs. It was almost coital.

_I did a grand job distracting myself, _Sasuke smiled as he ran up the stairs to Naruto's apartment. He had been trying to avoid this conversation for a while. This was the time when he would tell his best friend what he was up to with Itachi. Was he going to take it like Team 10, was he just going to say that he knew that it was going on and brush it off like it was nothing? Or was he going to be like Sakura and hate him for going after the man who caused their village so much pain? Either way, it was going to upset him desperately, he was going to have to see a side of Sasuke that he would never want to see again. He was going to know where the marks on his neck had come from.

"Naruto," he whispered as he reached toward the door to knock on it. _"Tell him that there is a way for him to live. He can stay in Konoha while I go out and exterminate the Akatsuki. It will be a life full of fear, but it will be a life none-the-less. It could be better than death."_

He took a deep breath moving his hand closer. No doubt that Iruka was in there trying to comfort him after he heard that Sakura had run away. Did he hear the news of where Sakura was? Did he know that she was on her way to the Sound Village with the accomplice of one of the most powerful ninja that Konoha has ever known?

He knocked on the door, his heart stopping in his chest as he did so. The options that Itachi had come up with were bleak, not giving Naruto much of a choice, nor did it make Sasuke feel any better. Either way he was going to lose something that was precious to him. He would either lose Naruto to death or he would lose Itachi when he went on that suicide mission seeking out the Akatsuki one by one. The thought of the blood seeping from his brother's lips made his stomach churn violently. He wasn't going to be able to live either way that this worked out.

His hand pressed up against the door as he thought about all of his training with Itachi. He never taught him how to deal with emotions; Itachi was trying to avoid the subject now that his own emotions weren't intact. Neither of them expected that it was going to get this difficult. Itachi never thought that Kabuto was going to come looking for him bringing only more misfortune, bringing memories of Shisui with him, tormenting him to the edge of insanity.

Damn Shisui, this was his fault, it was his fault that Itachi was trying to save Naruto. Itachi hoped that Sasuke would make amends to their relationship before it got to the point where they wouldn't be able to reason with one another. Sasuke wasn't going to turn out the way Itachi did, he was going to be stronger than that, Sasuke was different.

He stepped back as he looked at the door, the wind rolling against his face, blowing his hair away from the flesh. This was the worst that he had felt in a long time, split between two worlds. Once he chose which world he belonged to, the door to the other world would be forever closed. There would be no turning back. He fell to his knees closing his eyes, cursing lightly.

"Damn it," he breathed, hitting the ground lightly, leaving a dent where his fist had made the collision. Naruto shouldn't answer the door anyway, seeing Sasuke after so long would only cause more pain. Itachi was out of his mind for making him do this.

"What was that? Is there someone there?" a voice called out, it was Naruto responding to the sound of Sasuke's chakra strengthened fist no doubt. Hearing the footsteps coming closer, Sasuke rose to his feet; there was something about this that made his heart race again, feel like it was light enough to bust out of his chest. Closing his onyx eyes, he pressed his foot up against the dent in the ground; Naruto would get pissed if he knew what Sasuke had done.

The door opened as Sasuke looked into the eyes of his best friend, hearing the blond's breath catch in his throat upon looking straight at him. The few moments that they stared at one another, Sasuke could sense that Naruto was in some sort of shock of seeing him here thinking that he was abandoned by everyone who he thought had once cared. If Sasuke was in his position, he would be shocked to see someone who was like a ghost right outside of his door.

"S-Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking out the door, his blue eyes starting to fade as he became dizzy, the shock starting to take control of his body, driving him to the edge of his madness.

"Hey," Sasuke greeted with a nervous smile, trying his hardest not to expose the mark that he had left on the ground. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

Before Sasuke could say anything else, Naruto fell forward, fainting from the shock of seeing his best friend again. _He really is surprised to see me, _Sasuke thought as he caught him in his arms, trying his hardest not to drop him to the ground. "It's nice to see you too, Naruto," he smiled as he tried to forget the reason why Itachi had sent him there. It was no longer as important as he thought it was. The options would come in good time.

Slowly he moved Naruto back into the apartment, closing the door behind him. He sighed as he continued to pull his best friend to the bedroom to lay him down. Even after all of this time trying to be serious, Naruto Uzumaki was always going to be a complete moron. Still Sasuke feared that he was going to lose him forever to the madness of what was going on, but he was always going to be right here waiting for him. It made Sasuke feel relieved.

Looking around, he remembered that night when Naruto had invited him inside of these walls to stay the night with him. That night was always going to be bathed in crimson, the pain still in his eyes as he tried desperately to bring his best friend back to life. Back when he didn't have a choice, back then he was reckless, back before Itachi realized what his actions could do. He remembered a younger more naïve him, one who would do anything just to make the thought of Itachi go away, he was a fool to think that it was that easy. He was a fool to think that he wanted his brother to leave him that early in the game. Now that he had tasted the fruit in the forbidden garden he knew that its nectar was addictive, he would give anything to keep that sweetness. He was going to save Sakura and Naruto, this didn't involve them.

He finally made it to the piece of furniture that he had been looking for: the bed. Placing Naruto's limp body on the bed, he looked down at his knuckles seeing the bruises that were taking root from him hitting the ground. Things had changed since the last time. He was stronger than he ever had been before. He was keeping his promise.

Everything that he had ever done, all that he had ever attempted, he realized that he was wrong, he only lies to himself. Every word that he said, when he was around Itachi did none of that matter? Did the loyalty that he had for his team just disappear when he was wrapped in his arms? Was it all just because he wanted the pleasure that Itachi gave him, or was it more than that? Was it the fact that he felt as though years of pain could be lifted when Itachi spoke with him. Or was it the fact that he saw something in Itachi's eyes that he had never seen before: true pain?

Sasuke had never known pain other than the pain that he saw in his own reflection as he looked in the mirror, nothing else really affected him. His world was flipped upside down now. The sorrow in Naruto's eyes, the bitterness in Sakura's, the failure in Ino's, the heartbreak in Shikamaru's, the confusion in Chouji's, the disdain in Gai's, the shame in Asuma's, the loss in Kurenai's, the darkness in Kakashi's, that all showed him what real pain was, pain that _he_ had caused. Yet the pain that killed him the most was watching the tears well up in his brother's once scorn flooded eyes, the way that he would turn away every time that he looked at Sasuke, that pain was the worst pain that he had ever seen. The pain of absolute defeat, unlike the rest of them, Itachi was about to give up not wanting to stand up ever again. It was Hell deep within ebony eyes, an inferno that Sasuke had nightmares about.

Watching Naruto lying unconscious on the bed only tormented him deeper. Was this ever going to end? Was this going to have the happy ending that he had always longed for? Were they ever going to be a team again, ever going to walk side by side with smiles on their faces, laughing about how naïve they were to be doing this? Sasuke laughed cold and sorrowfully, that day was nothing more than a fantasy and a lie. It was never going to come true.

_I was a fool; _he closed his eyes as he remembered the blood running from his eyes, the screams that were passing through his lips as he begged the bleeding to stop. _I was a fool to do that. Itachi once told me that all I had to say was stop and he would, all I had to say was no and he'd leave me be. Why didn't I say no? Why did I pull him back when he was about to leave? _

He felt a tear form in his left eye, his vision starting to cloud. _I wanted to hate him that day when he came to the house; I wanted him out of my life, I wanted to kill him. _He shook his head as he took a deep breath. _Instead I pulled him into my bed and I let him fuck me again, and I fell deeper in love with him than I was before. He loved me more than I could ever love him; he would have had the guts to say no._

Sasuke would never be as forgiving as Itachi. If Itachi refused to do anything for him; he used to throw a tantrum. Itachi didn't do anything like that when Sasuke said that he couldn't do something. Maybe Sakura was right in a few ways; maybe his brother was a better person than he was. Everything that he did, he did it for Sasuke. He had put his life in serious danger for him; he had spilled blood for him, blood that Sasuke would never be able to forget that would forever be etched into his mind.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sasuke breathed, looking down at his best friend. "I don't want you to die through all of this. I know I said this before, but now I'm one hundred percent sure that I won't let you die during this even if I have to kill the Akatsuki myself. I'm not going to keep playing with your life like you don't matter. This isn't a game, nor is this the same as it was before; this could be a life or death situation for all of us. If my guesses are right, one person on Team 7 is going to die: Sakura, you, or myself."

He took a deep breath as he grasped the handle of his dagger again, remembering everything that Itachi had said about Shisui. He said that he was the one who should have died; he was the one who should have gone through all of that pain. Itachi had become a new person ever since Shisui died a colder person. Shisui wasn't the saint that everyone thought he was, Sasuke knew even when he was young Shisui was a monster who used Itachi to obtain power. That night Itachi had come out the victor, becoming what he was now, becoming this empty pained person on the verge of a breakdown. Did Sasuke want that for himself?

"_I don't want you to walk that path, it only will break you."_

Sasuke remembered those words on that day, remembering the atmosphere as he said those words. He meant it, and he would kill anyone who drove Sasuke to do that. That's why he went on that suicide mission to the Hokage, he didn't necessarily care if he came out of it alive. He was sickened by himself at that point.

"And out of the three of us who die," Sasuke closed his eyes as he thought of Itachi's tears in the woods as he held his body closely after countless minutes of trying to save him. "I honestly hope," he closed his eyes tighter, the tear that had built up in his left eye falling to the sheets. "I truly hope…"

"_Itachi, you're bleeding, you're bleeding."_

"I hope that it's me…" he took a deep breath trying to muffle his crying. "I caused you all of this pain, you and Sakura both, it's only fitting that it's me who falls for it. I'm the one who made you two become what you are now. I'm the one who killed you guys. I'm a disgrace to the team."

As he shuddered he felt a hand move to touch his, his dark eyes widening in shock. Moving his vision down to see what was right in front of him, he saw Naruto's eyes open slowly, his fingers moving to touch lightly at Sasuke's. All of the darkness that was clouding over his heart was starting to see the sunrise that his best friend could bring. He was starting to feel like he was worth something more than a bastard who was giving his friends pain. For that one moment, everything stopped.

"You're not a failure, Sasuke," Naruto breathed, looking up at him. "And you're sure as hell not a disgrace to the team."

Sasuke was silent; all that Itachi had told him to say was being robbed from him as he looked into his eyes. He couldn't do what he did before; he couldn't look past Naruto and just see the fox. This time there was nothing on the line, he wasn't under the impression that he was going to lose Itachi faster than he intended to. Itachi was fine now; there was only Sakura and Naruto to worry about. He had to save both of them if he was ever going to be able to live with himself.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke asked, looking down at his best friend. "You're awake…"

"Of course I'm awake, you just scared me is all," the blond answered quietly. "I heard a noise out there; I thought that it was someone else. I didn't really expect to see you again; I would have thought that you would have abandoned me just like Sakura."

Sasuke closed his eyes, another tear falling. "Sakura…" he remembered the time in the woods, the last time that he had ever seen the kunoichi.

He recalled the forehead protector that she was wearing, she was loyal to Sound now along with that demon Orochimaru. He had failed her most of all, lying to her, using her, allowing Itachi to use her, she had put up with so much. It was only a matter of time before she broke. Sasuke just never expected that she would fall this hard.

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed. "About Sakura…"

The blond looked at the other genin, his cerulean eyes narrowing at the words. "What about Sakura? What's happened to her? If she's been hurt and you didn't do anything about it…" quickly he grasped Sasuke's collar, pulling his closer forcefully, "I'll kill you!"

Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes, swallowing hard. He wasn't joking about this. Even after all of this time trying to tell Sakura that he didn't care about her, Naruto was still hopelessly in love with her. He must have known by now what was going on. Shikamaru must have told him that Sakura was on a one way trip to the Sound Village where she was going to be experimented on. There was no way that he couldn't know about it, not with that much contempt in his glance. He knew what Itachi was going to do to Sakura the next time that they met.

"Naruto," Sasuke answered. "Don't you know what happened to her?"

"She was kidnapped," Naruto answered. "She was kidnapped that night when she followed you home. She was kidnapped the night when we were all together, the night when she went home right after you. She was on her way home, but she never made it because that bastard…"

Sasuke closed his eyes another tear falling to the ground, it pained his heart to say the words that he was about to, he didn't know how to break this news to his best friend. He hoped he would never have to. "Naruto… Sakura wasn't kidnapped."

"What are you talking about?" he took a deep breath before letting out a growl, his grip tightening on Sasuke's collar. "What the hell is going on Sasuke? What has that bastard done to Sakura?"

Struggling to move from the punishing grip, Sasuke managed to utter a simple answer. "She wasn't kidnapped," he swallowed hard; it wasn't as simple as he thought it was. "She went to the Sound Village of her own free will. She wasn't forced, she had met with a person from there previously and on that night she went with him on their way to the Sound Village," Sasuke shook his head. "I thought someone told you…"

Before Saskue knew it, he could feel the burn of Naruto's palm brushing across his cheek, slapping him. The look in his blue eyes resembled blue fire, burning greatly, too deeply for Sasuke to even look at him. There were a lot of punishments that Sasuke deserved, this was one of them. In the woods, he could have dragged her back to Konoha before she got too deep into this. It only ended in his cousin's dagger almost piercing his heart. He knew he deserved that.

"You fucking dick!" Naruto breathed as he watched more tears roll down Sasuke's cheek. "You knew… you knew!" he got out of bed, dropping Sasuke to the ground. "You knew that she was going through this pain, and you ignored it. You always ignore her, Sasuke!" he couldn't even look back at Sasuke as he heard the Uchiha rise off of the ground. "You knew…"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he shook his head. "I didn't know, not until I saw the message written in blood. Naruto, this situation is becoming very dangerous. What started out just as Itachi has now become a raid by the Sound Village. They're here to kill Itachi before he can achieve his goal: you."

There was another silence as Naruto took in the words, hearing what Sasuke had to say. All of this time while he was trying to see what Itachi was here for, he knew the answer now. This whole time, Itachi wasn't here for Sasuke; he was here for the fox.

"Wh-what?" Naruto asked, his voice shaking as he tried to focus on his best friend who was wiping the tears from his eyes. "Itachi's after me? The reason why Sakura went to the Sound Village was because of me?" he shook his head. "I don't believe you. No, it's not because of that!"

Sasuke shook his head. "Sakura's leaving wasn't because of you, it was because of me. Naruto… there's a lot going on and we haven't been able to talk about it much, but me and Itachi…"

Everything that he tried to say wasn't coming out; he had made this more difficult than it had to be. All that Itachi had said to him, the options that he was struggling to open up, Sasuke wasn't sure if he wanted to give those to his best friend, Naruto deserved more than that. He deserved to live a life that he wanted regardless of what everyone else wanted, a life free of fear and pain.

"Itachi and I went after her…" Sasuke struggled as he feared what his friend was going to say to the fact that he had been with Itachi.

The only stories that Naruto was aware of were the dark ones, the times after the rape. He didn't know, he didn't know that he was with him now. He didn't know of all the training that Sasuke had gone through. They were like strangers seeing each other for the first time after an eternity.

"You what?" Naruto's voice was shaking as much as his body as he tried to focus on what Sasuke was trying to say. "Wh-what did you do… with _Itachi_? What did you do to Sakura? What did that bastard…"

"Now wait a second, Naruto," Sasuke countered upon hearing that word used toward Itachi. "That _bastard_ that you speak of is the one who tried to save Sakura from being a Sound Village test subject. That _bastard_ is the reason why I got out of those damn woods alive. I almost died there, Naruto. It was almost all over for me, but Itachi saved me in the knick of time."

Naruto's body didn't stop shaking as his eyes started to water, tears falling down his cheeks. "What happened in the woods with Sakura? What happened to you Sasuke?" his voice became quiet. "D-did she h-hurt you?"

He wasn't here to talk about that day when he looked at the blood on his brother's hand. He wasn't supposed to think of all of the blood they had both shed throughout the whole struggle with Sound. Every time that he thought of that, he knew what happened; he knew that he wasn't able to take the thought. Blood was starting to get to him; it was starting to make him feel nauseous, especially after that night with Itachi. At this moment as he thought of that very moment, he prayed to the heavens that would never happen again.

"She's helping the Sound Village," Sasuke answered sorrowfully. "And they want to kill you, Naruto, every last one of those bastards in that village wants to hand you over to the Akatsuki and they're going to extract the spirit to use to obtain the ultimate power that their looking for," he took a deep breath. "She's going to bring you to them alongside that son of a bitch Kabuto Yakushi who she's working with. She wants to kill you."

Naruto shook his head as he tried to block out what his beat friend was trying to say to him. "I don't want to believe you. I don't respond to the messenger of that Goddamn Itachi Uchiha. Aren't you trying to kill me too? Isn't that why you wanted to spend more time with me? Because you wanted to kill me, Sasuke? If that's true, then why are you here tonight? Are you going to try to kill me again?"

"No," Sasuke stated quickly as he moved to sit back on the bed. "Throughout this whole quest, ever since the night when I almost killed you, I have been trying to figure out a way to save you. Itachi came up with two options for you."

Naruto swallowed hard, he wasn't going to like either of them. His heart raced in his chest as he watched onyx eyes close lightly, a tear rolling down Sasuke's cheek. "What are they? What conclusions did he draw?"

Sasuke's heart stopped in his chest as he looked straight into his best friend's cerulean eyes. "In order for your soul not to be used to destroy Konoha, you have two options," his voice was shaking violently. "One: you can let us kill you, or two: you can continue to live," he regained strength in his words. "You can continue a life without caring about the Akatsuki. Itachi will take care of them; he will destroy every one of them before they even think about hurting you. Naruto, you couldn't be in better hands with this. We found a way for you to live…"

"You call that a life?" Naruto shook his head, his tears flowing uncontrollably as he watched his best friend stand completely still. "You call me locking myself up in an apartment fearing every morning that I wake up that today might be the day when I die is a life? I'm living in that Hell right now and I would give anything to get out of it. I would give every drop of blood in my body to go back to the old days, the days before you were with Itachi and Sakura went off to the Sound Village, the days when we were Team 7, the days when we were going to amount to something."

The silence was starting to make him uneasy; it was starting to make his heart stop in his chest. The look in Naruto's eyes, it wasn't Shisui. No in the scenes in his nightmares, the look in Naruto's eyes was Itachi's. Just one glance into those eyes was enough to make Sasuke's stomach bubble. Even with the choices that he'd given to him, nothing was going to work. Naruto was always going to be in pain, there was nothing that Sasuke could do to ease that.

"We can still amount to something," Sasuke answered getting a hold on his emotions, turning away from Naruto. "If we make all of this right again, we can be Team 7, we can be great. We can be better than we were before now that we've made these mistakes. We can learn what it truly means to be a ninja."

Naruto scoffed, sitting on the bed resting his back up against Sasuke's. "You're calling all that you went through a mistake? Sasuke out of the three of us, you made the least mistakes. You're with Itachi, he's teaching you something; he's becoming a new person himself. The Itachi that all of the books are on would have killed you by now," he took a deep breath. "Besides, if anyone can reach Sakura, it's you. You're the one who can make all of this right again."

He was the only one who could save Sakura. As Naruto said those words, all Sasuke could feel was the sting of the dagger going through his chest. The pain as his heart slowly stopped beating was accented by the memory of Itachi's cries as he fell to the ground. How could he save Sakura when he couldn't save her in the woods? As he got stronger, she would get stronger too. He didn't know how far she had advanced. He and Itachi had a problem that was rising as he sat here with Naruto. Did they know how to contain it?

"I should have killed her in the woods," Sasuke breathed, leaning forward so that his elbows rested up against his knees, his hand covering his face. "It would have saved me from so much hurt."

Naruto took a deep breath. "You should have killed me…"

Black eyes snapped open as Sasuke struggled to find his voice. "No… I shouldn't have killed you. How would that have made this problem any better? Sakura would still leave Konoha, but she wouldn't be coming back for something. You're the reason why she's staying here; you're the reason why she hasn't moved on to Sound yet. It's because you're alive that she doesn't want to hurt you. Naruto she cares about you, more than anyone cares about me. If I was the one they were after…"

"The village would be in the same uproar," Naruto sighed. "But there would be less peace. You're making this all work out so beautifully. I want to thank you for that. Thank you for the chance at a life."

"Don't thank me," Sasuke sighed. "Thank Itachi; he's the one who's been trying to make this fight work in my favor. He's the one risking everything just to make me happy, even if he has to die to do it."

Sasuke thought about everything that was going on between him and Itachi? Who was giving up more in the long run? Was it the opposite of what he thought? Was Itachi really losing more through this? He had almost died numerous ties to ensure the safety of the village, a village that he hated more than anything. He had put up with everything that Sasuke had thrown at him. He put up with his bitching, he put up with his tears, he put up with everything that his brother had to offer, never once wanting to leave of his own free will. He needed Sasuke more than Sasuke needed him. It wasn't fair for Sasuke to hurt him like this.

"He really cares…" Naruto sighed as he closed his eyes. "It's amazing to see someone who cares that much about a person. He must really love you…"

Sasuke gasped as he heard Naruto say those words. _Has he known what I've bee up to with Itachi all along? Did he know back then that we had been sleeping together, that he loved me more than he loved his own life? _A smile rolled across his face as he let out a single chuckle, Naruto did know after all. He was always finding facts out before everyone else knew what was going on. He pieced it all together quicker than Sasuke thought he would. Naruto really did pay attention.

"Naruto…" Sasuke breathed as he closed his eyes. "You do have choice; I'm not going to force you to do anything. Itachi will do everything in his power to make sure that the Sound Village and the Akatsuki fail in their goal to obtain you," he grasped his dagger at his side. "And I'll help him protect you, I will kill to make sure that nobody opposes Itachi's dream… that's my new goal."

"I take it you've been training," Naruto stated his voice still quiet from all of the crying. "You seem to be more powerful, I can tell just by looking at you that you've been undergoing some pretty heavy training. What have you learned?"

Sasuke closed his eyes; Naruto was trying to calm himself down before he thought about making a decision of what to do with his life. Then again, Sasuke could still feel the tears streaming down his face, maybe this conversation would help dull the pain that he was going through.

"Mostly taijutsu and medical ninjutsu," Sasuke breathed, wiping his tears on Kakashi's glove on his right hand. "Itachi says that I have potential in those two aspects. He always thought me to be the taijutsu type," he leaned back, pressing his back closer to Naruto's. "It's been a while since we were able to talk like this, able to be in the same room with one another. Only this time we aren't as carefree as we were back then."

Naruto sniffled. "Times change," he moved his weight to fall onto the bed, burying his face into his pillow taking deep breath before turning to the side to look up at Sasuke. "We're different than we were before… and we can't go back to the beginning."

Letting out a deep breath, Sasuke fell next to Naruto. "But don't you think that if we work hard enough we could find a way to make this a new beginning to a new story, a better story of Team 7 than we have ever seen," he turned to look into blue eyes. "Naruto, think about it, you and I have only gotten closer throughout this and Sakura has come to enjoy you more. Even if she hates me… we can still be a team…"

"It doesn't work that way, Sasuke…" Naruto sighed as he turned away from his best friend, the sheets rustling beneath him. "Sakura isn't going to come back to us, like you said she's already on her way to the Sound Village, it's going to take a miracle to bring her back to us."

Sasuke wrapped an arm around Naruto pulling him closer. "I think that miracles can occur, I mean I'm alive aren't I? Isn't that a miracle? That amount of faith that you had in the hospital room, use that as I go on my journey to bring Sakura back to us. Guide me with that faith…"

Naruto closed his eyes, his body trembling. "Sasuke…"

"There's no reason for you to worry about me. We're all going to be alright, we're going to live through this. Itachi isn't going to let me die," the Uchiha took a deep breath. "Don't tell me you're giving up already, I thought that you never gave up, Naruto."

"I do when it's hopeless," he took a deep breath. "No matter what path I take I'm going to die, no matter which of your options captures my heart I'm always going to be murdered. Sasuke, I can't live like that, I can't live the way that you want me to. I can't wait for the Akatsuki to die…"

Sasuke held onto his friend tighter, kissing the nape of his neck. "Then Itachi and I are going to have to work harder…"

For once Naruto was silent, letting out a low coo as he moved closer to Sasuke's heat, driving his own warmth through the Uchiha hearing him take a deep breath. Was there no hope for Team 7? After all of this time was it just going to wind up with more blood and tear like everything that Itachi and Sasuke tried to do? He had to keep this in control, this was something greater, this was the life of his best friend. This was the one that he had made countless promises with, the one who he had shared the most memorable moments on Team 7 with. He couldn't just lose that; he couldn't allow this to be taken from him. He would not only fail Naruto, but he would fail himself.

He grasped onto Naruto tighter closing his eyes. _I'm not going to lose you, I promise you that. I would rather die than have Itachi watch as a second him is formed. I would rather die than see those tears in his eyes again. I would rather die than to see you cold and dead. I wouldn't be able to live with myself._

They held onto each other closer still, Naruto's hands gently gripping Sasuke's. "I don't want you to go outside in the cold… I can't lose you… you're all that I have left of my team…"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he heard those words. "I won't let myself get hurt… I promised you that I wouldn't die no matter what, Naruto. I'll be damned if I go back on my word now."

Itachi was a man of his word, Sasuke was going to inherit that trait, it was the most honorable quality that Itachi had about him. He closed his eyes tighter still as he thought about everything that was going on; Naruto was going to have to give too much. Was it worth it? Was Sakura's life worth this plan working? There were some points where he knew he was going too far, but it was too late to go back now. He was already in too deep.

"_Tell him that there is a way for him to live. He can stay in Konoha while I go out and exterminate the Akatsuki. It will be a life full of fear, but it will be a life none-the-less. It could be better than death, I'll take out Kabuto as soon as I can and put that girl that's with him in her place. He has an option; it is his life after all."_

Sasuke held onto Naruto's body tighter, his heart racing in his chest. This was the final stretch, the final level that he had to clear before it was over. This was the ultimate showdown between him and Sakura. Only one of them was going to get out of this alive. He prayed that Itachi wasn't going to get hurt. Maybe there was still hope.

_Itachi's given me so may chances and I've been so ungreatful, but now I will show him they I can be valuable._

He closed his eyes as he moved closer to Naruto. This was the beginning of his race through Hell. He hoped that he wasn't going to get burned. He had a choice just like Naruto did, it was his life. Itachi knew what Sasuke's limits were and he was going to push them. They were in this together, they were connected. If one of them died they both would die together.

_Thank you Itachi, thank you for this chance…_

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that this chapter was almost ItaSasu free, but the next chapter is going to change that, it's going to be another long one. This chapter was to more so shed light upon what Sasuke and Naruto's friendship has become like. There are also nine chapters left of this story (it's really winding down!) So what did you think? Good? Bad? Bring on the action? Honesty is always good. 

The next chapter is going to start the battle for the fox.


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that has to do with this anime/manga, and I never will.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains a scene of violence/blood, crude language, references to rape, talk of sexual situations, incest, yaoi, thoughts of homicide, OOC, and the canon is also not going to be a huge factor. I also know that the chapter is REALLY long, I'm sorry about that and that means there are even more mistakes in here. Before you start, yes, I know that some of Itachi's development in medical ninjutsu is over the top.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, some KakaIta, some SasuNaru, a hint of GaiKaka

* * *

The first drop of rain fell as he looked out the window. The days were winding down to the moment where they would face off, the Sound Village and the ex-Akatsuki. Itachi felt uneasy as he sat up in bed glancing at the dark clouds that were blocking out the sun. Something was happening; something important was going to go on today, he could feel in the wind. It wasn't a positive breeze, it was a breeze that took all of the hope that he had and made it freeze throughout his blood. 

"Kabuto," he breathed as he closed his eyes, clenching his fists at the sound of that name. His heart raced faster as he thought about what that bastard was doing out there, it made him feel a sense of urgency. Had he really been going to soft on Kabuto? Should he have attacked him more than he did?

Slowly he caught his breath a smile rolling across his face. "You're going to lose if you go to Naruto now… Sasuke will destroy you before you advance that far," he clenched his fist tighter. "One hit and your bones will not only be broken, but they will be shattered to dust," he laughed lightly. "This is going to be fun, Kabuto."

The rain hit the window rhythmically as he moved out of the bed grasping one of his sais from the nightstand. He knew what he had to do if he wanted to win this; everything was going to ride on his shoulders. It was up to him to make all of this right again. There was only so much that Sasuke could do, but now that he was healed, Itachi's powers were unlimited. There was nothing that could match him.

"Sasuke," he sighed as he grasped the sai tighter. "Don't die throughout this," he looked out the window. "You're the only reason why that pink haired bitch is still alive. Don't you worry, she'll get what's coming to her," he threw the sai at the wall with great accuracy and precision, the blade embedded in the hard material. "She doesn't know who she's messing with."

He glanced at the door, a smile gracing his lips as he thought about the progress that they had made. Any attack that Kabuto made would easily be countered and used against him. There wasn't a prayer for him anymore. Sasuke wouldn't let him get Naruto; he was trained to destroy the Sound ninja upon seeing him. He had made Sasuke into what he saw in his own design, saving him from the curse that Orochimaru was going to force on him. Itachi had made him too strong.

"Orochimaru," Itachi hissed as he moved toward the sai that stabbed into the wall. "Be prepared, because I'm coming for you next. And this time I'm not going to show you any mercy," he grabbed the sai from the wall. "You will die…"

He grabbed the sai quickly pulling it out of the wall, his eyes shifting back to the rain that was falling onto the window. "It begins again… only this time; the ending of this story will come…"

-----

A shiver ran through Sasuke's body as he shot up in bed, something wasn't right, he could feel it deep inside of his body. The chills that were running through his body weren't like anything that he had felt in a while, not since Itachi's near death experience. Did something happen to him? As his heart raced he moved his hand to his side to grasp at the dagger to see if it was still there.

"Thank God," Sasuke sighed as he felt the handle in his hand. There was no telling what Itachi would have done if he was left alone with it.

That cursed dagger. That cursed cousin of his, that monster that had made Itachi turn out like this. He hated him ever sine he was child, he always wished that he would get away from his brother and now he had found the reason why he wanted it so badly. Shisui had a bad air around him, it made Sasuke feel uncomfortable to be near him.

Everything that they had been trying to do for the past weeks was going to work for Itachi's sake. He wasn't sure how much more his brother could take before he broke down. Next to him, only a few inches away from him, he had to protect it with his life. Naruto was the only person that kept Sasuke in this with Itachi; he was the only reason why he had been able to make all of this pain disappear.

If Kabuto even thought about attacking him now, Sasuke would kill him before he even thought about doing anything. Sasuke had learned countless jutsu from his older brother, his strength augmented to five times his regular ability, his control of chakra almost flawless. There was nothing that Kabuto could do that would ruin the fact that he was more advanced than Sakura. One of them would fall right where they stood; Sasuke was going to make it out of this alive.

_After everything that I learned, I guess this is the time to see whether Itachi wasted his time or not, _he placed a hand on Naruto's forehead, taking a deep breath as the rain fell down the glass of the window to the ground.

It was the perfect day to attack, it was raining, most of the people in the village would be inside. It was the ideal day for a person of Kabuto's level to be stalking his prey. Besides, Itachi and Sasuke were separated from one another making them weaker than usual. Kabuto would take advantage of this moment; he would go after the weaker one rather than messing with Itachi. That would be suicide; Itachi wouldn't spare him after what happened in the woods.

Then again, Itachi was far away from where they were situated, it would be easy for Kabuto to get what he wants. He wasn't sure if he would be able to hold him off alone, he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to hold him off for that long. There was no telling how strong that he was, there was no telling what kind of power Kabuto had in store.

Sasuke gripped onto the dagger tighter as he thought of the rain of senbon from the woods. Was that what Kabuto's technique was? Did he mostly use senbon as a way to confuse and then paralyze the enemy? Though Sasuke feared this time, the poison in the senbon would be deadly. Kabuto seemed not to want to kill them in the woods, but if he hadn't brought Sakura with him, it would be a different story.

_I don't have time to second guess my abilities; _he started to get out of bed, hearing his best friend let out a low breath as he did so. _I have to protect you with my life or Itachi will really kill me this time. Everything rides on whether you're taken or not Naruto. If he takes you right now, I might have to go after him on my own._

He shook his head. He shouldn't think that it was the end just because it was raining. It had rained for countless days after Kabuto had arrived and nothing had happened yet. Maybe today was going to be no different. Still, his hand shook as he touched the handle of his dagger. The feeling that was running through his body made him tense. There was something wrong outside.

"Sasuke?" a voice asked, Naruto was starting to stir. "What's going on?"

Sasuke looked over at his best friend. "Nothing," he smiled lightly as he struggled to let go of the dagger.

Naruto didn't need to worry about what was going on, he didn't have to worry about the situation, he didn't have to worry about what Kabuto was going to do. The last thing that Sasuke wanted was for Naruto to grow concerned for him. This mission was dangerous one. An opponent like Kabuto would make for an A-Rank mission, perhaps even S-Rank since the chance of Itachi attacking was high as well. Sasuke had no clue what he had gotten himself into.

"Sleep well?" Naruto asked, as he moved closer to Sasuke.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "I don't sleep that well…"

"Do you sleep well when you're around _him_?" Naruto asked looking up into Sasuke's eyes.

The look in those blue irises proved to him that Naruto had known what they had been up to at night. He could probably still smell Itachi's scent; it was too strong to pass up. He could tell by the way that Sasuke walked that he had unbelievable power within. Naruto was jealous of that power.

"No," Sasuke breathed as he closed his eyes. "He makes me worry, I don't know what he's going to do next… it's annoying and heart wrenching at the same time. I can't take it sometimes, I feel as though I'm losing him. It's like he's purposely making me worry, like this is a game to him," he opened his eyes, narrowing them with seriousness. "In the woods I showed him this wasn't a game to me… this is real."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked curiously.

"While we were in the woods chasing after Sakura, she ran toward Itachi with a blade ready to kill him," he closed his eyes, clutching the dagger again. "I didn't know what was going through my mind at that moment, all I could think of was how I needed him," a tear fell down his cheek. "I ran right into the blow, piercing my chest."

"She's the reason you almost died?" Naruto asked wide eyed, he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want anything that Sasuke said to be true; it all had to be a lie, there was no way that she could have done that much damage. Sakura wasn't the kind of person who would kill a person no matter how much she hated them.

His hands moved to the bottom of his shirt, pulling it up to expose the mark that was on his chest. The pain returned as he watched blue eyes widen with absolute shock, tears forming within them. The looked into each other's eyes, Naruto's body shaking, his fingers moving to touch the scar that covered his chest.

"Shit," Naruto breathed as he felt the scar, closing his eyes, moving closer to the beating heart deep within. "Sasuke… how did you…? Why did you let that happen to you? Damn it!" he rested up against Sasuke's chest, starting to cry. "Damn it, Sasuke!" he wrapped his arm around him. "Damn it!"

Tears fell down Sasuke's chest as he felt his best friend shake up against him. The pain that he was feeling must have been unbearable, knowing that his friends had been going through so much as he sat waiting for them to come back to him. He had been sitting within his apartment not knowing that the two of them were at war with each other. Now he had just found out the cold hard truth.

"Sasuke…" he sobbed as he felt his best friend's arms wrap around him. "Is this what Itachi wanted with you all along? For you to be hurt because of him, for you to regret that you ever went off with him? To bruise and scar you?"

"No," Sasuke breathed. "Itachi wanted me to stay out of this battle; he didn't want me to jump in front of the dagger for him…" he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, this must be hard for you, to find out that I'm in love with my brother, this must be difficult for you to swallow…"

Naruto backed away shaking his head, his breathing starting to clam down just a little as the last tears fell. "No, it doesn't surprise me. I knew how you felt about him, I always knew. That's why every time that he hurts you; it scars you deeper than you ever wanted it to, because you love him and you thought that he loved you. Even now… as you try to tell yourself that you don't want to love him anymore, I know that you will never stop loving him. He will never stop loving you either, Sasuke… I guarantee it…"

Sasuke's hands shook as he placed them onto his thighs looking down at them. "So you knew too, everyone knew… I hid it that horribly," he shook his head. "I guess I'm the only one who didn't catch on to my horrible attempts to cover it up. That's why I drew closer to you and Sakura, because I thought that there would be someone out there who could love me and not hurt me in the process. But everyone I know… just leaves me in the end…"

Naruto took a deep breath. "You'll get Sakura back, I know you will. You've never been the one to give up that easily…"

"You don't know me, do you? Naruto, I couldn't even kill Itachi…" Sasuke closed his eyes.

"Because you love him," Naruto countered. "You would die with him if he ever died. There would be no point to you living, not only because your goal would be fulfilled, but you would have killed the only person in the world that you would take that vital of a hit for from one of your teammates. Sasuke, you let Sakura almost kill you to save Itachi…"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he remembered the tears running down the back of his neck as Itachi held onto him. _Never again… you'll never cry for me again, Itachi. I'm not worth your tears, I'm not the reason why you should suffer, _he could feel a tear run down his cheek as he took a deep breath. "I love him… and I will die before anyone else gets hurt during this. It's my fault this all started, I'm not going to let anyone else get suffer because of me."

Naruto nodded shakily. "I trust you to do the right thing…"

"And your decision?" Sasuke asked. "Do you wish to live or die?"

"I don't know," Naruto breathed. "I never thought that I would have to decide what to do with my life in a single night. I never thought that I would get a choice to live or die. I never thought that you would come in here and ask me that question…"

"You don't have to answer now," Sasuke breathed. "I just want you to know that I will destroy anyone who tries to harm you. I will kill them all."

Naruto nodded as Sasuke stood up. "Itachi's probably wondering where you are."

"He's made me worried about him countless times," Sasuke answered, looking down at Naruto. "I think that he'll live if I'm a few minutes late."

He started to walk toward the door, his heart beating hurriedly. Something was wrong; he could feel it in the wind. The way that his body became suddenly cold made him feel as though the second the door opened something bad was going to happen. He swallowed around the lump in his throat as he moved his had to touch the door.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he followed him. "Is something wrong?"

The Uchiha touched the door sensing a familiar presence right outside, footsteps coming closer to him. His heart stopped dead in his chest as he remembered who that was. He remembered this fear in his heart when he was alone training. The hands were still trailing across his body as he saw the disgust light up in his brother's eyes. It was Kabuto. He was here to get the fox.

"Get down!" Sasuke breathed, moving in front of Naruto as the door swung open, a breeze of senbon following soon after. Sasuke could feel two of them embed in his back, another embedding itself in the back of his knee. The surge of pain ran throughout his nerves, his body starting to shake.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as they fell to the ground, Sasuke on top of his starting to pant from the pain. "What the hell is going on?" he looked up into the doorway to see an unfamiliar man standing with a smile on his face.

"Well look what we have here," Kabuto hissed as he walked closer to the two boys who were on the floor, his vision specifically focused onto the shaking Uchiha. "If it isn't Itachi's disciple Sasuke, his foolish little apprentice, I didn't think that he would let you take care of something on your own. You don't seem that bright…" he laughed as he walked closer. "I don't see what he sees in you, you're nothing but common, there are a thousand ninja like you out there in the world. As for Itachi, he's not the kind of person you see everyday."

Sasuke struggled to move away from Naruto. _Are these needles poisoned? Is he trying to kill me?_

"Don't worry, Itachi's little brother," Kabuto stated condescendingly. "I didn't poison those needles. Why would I waste a technique like that on a mere genin?" he chuckled again as he moved closer to grasp Sasuke's hair to pull him off of Naruto. "Tell me, Sasuke, how come you chose to come here alone? Did that older brother of yours abandon you?"

The young Uchiha gasped as he felt his hair being pulled tighter as he was suspended off of the ground. "No, he knows that I can hold my own," he moved his convulsing hand to his side to grasp the dagger. "He knows that I can kick your ass on my own!"

He drew the dagger quickly, everything moving in a surreal slow motion as he moved to cut at the hairs that Kabuto was holding onto, falling to the ground face first. Pain filled his body as his nose starting to sting filling with liquid, blood rolling onto Naruto's floor. He could hear the blond's screams as Kabuto looked at the hair in his hand in shock. Sasuke tried to catch his breath moving to pull the senbon out of his leg and back, groaning as he made the motion.

The Sound ninja's attention was still focused on the black hair that was in his hand. It wasn't a lot of hair, but it was hair none-the less. The fact that Sasuke was mentally and physically strong enough to get out of that hold was amazing. He watched the three senbon hit the ground, being met with the burning scarlet color of the sharingan.

"You think that you can come here and take away what Itachi has worked so hard for?" Sasuke asked, moving to his feet, the dagger still in his hand. "You're wrong; as long as I live I will continue his legacy and carry out his wishes. I will kill you if I have to…"

"Sasuke…" Naruto breathed, watching the two of them look at each other.

"Naruto," Sasuke started to explain, his breath still heavy. "This is Kabuto Yakushi, the man who's trying to take Sakura to the Sound Village. This is the bastard who wants to kill you. This is the man that I was warning you about. Orochimaru's right hand man…"

The blond genin looked over at Kabuto. "You bastard!" he struggled to his feet.

"Stay down," Sasuke demanded as he pointed the dagger at the intruder. "I will take care of him," he placed the dagger back in the sheath at his side. "I will do this as quickly as possible…"

Kabuto raised an eyebrow. "How will you beat me without a weapon?" his fingers tauntingly pointed at the young boy's empty hands. "I have a whole pouch full of senbon and all you have is your own two hands. This fight won't last long…"

"You're right…" Sasuke moved forward, his hand extended to Kabuto, his body walking slowly to him his hnad touching his chest lightly.

Naruto must have blinked or been hallucinating, the next thing that he saw was Sasuke's hand pushing gently toward Kabuto, the older ninja soaring out the door as if he was hit. Sasuke didn't have that kind of strength as far as Naruto was concerned. How did that happen?

"_Mostly taijutsu and medical ninjutsu, Itachi says that I have potential in those two aspects. He always thought me to be the taijutsu type."_

Naruto breathed heavily as he sat up looking at Sasuke who was looking at the door with a smile on his face. The thrill that was going through his body was obvious as he took a few steps forward, sending chills down Naruto's spine.

"It won't," Sasuke ran out the door, his hand curled into a fist.

Naruto gulped. "Damn," he closed his eyes. _I should stop screwing around with Sasuke, he's going to kill me. With that kind of strength, he could take me down no problem. Itachi's been teaching him more than just the kekkei genkai. The power that is coursing through his veins, it's inhuman…_

Sasuke raced down the stairs to see Kabuto face down in the mud, coughing violently. "That's the same technique thatI wounded Itachi with, my strength since then has only augmented along with my hate for you. There is nothing in this world that will save you."

Kabuto coughed lightly, a small amount of blood rolling down his lips as he took a deep breath, checking to see if his ribs were broken. All he could imagine were the droplets of blood that ran down Itachi's lips in their meetings with one another. The pain in his eyes as the cursed liquid fell to the ground haunted the Sound ninja. Was that going to happen to him now? Was Sasuke really that strong? He felt his heart race as he watched the boy come closer. Was this the power that Orochimaru wanted? The power of a second Itachi?

"You bastard!" Kabuto huffed as he looked up into the genin's eyes. "You're going to die here, even I know that. Accept it," he started to struggle to his feet. "I'm going to bring that fox to the Sound Village; I don't care if I have to cut through you to do so. The second I get you Uchiha brats out of the way, the sooner we obtain our goal."

Sasuke walked right in front of Kabuto, pressing his foot up against his hand watching his raise an eyebrow in a challenge. "You're going to have to work harder if you want to get through me, _Yakushi_."

"I-is that a challenge, you little troll?" Kabuto hissed as he reached into the pouch that was behind him pulling out a single senbon. "Do you feel lucky? I packed fifty needles, and twenty of them are poisoned. Out of five, the ratio of this one being poisoned is 2 to 5, that's a forty percent chance that this one will kill you…"

Sasuke huffed. "You don't have it in you to kill me. Itachi will destroy you…" he applied chakra into his foot increasing the pressure, feeling the bones of Kabuto's hand start to give. "Do you think he'll just sit back and take the fact that you killed his brother? You saw what happened in the woods…"

"Itachi's dying!" Kabuto grinned. "I saw the blood…"

Sasuke shook his head. "No he's not," he grinned evilly, a snide chuckle passing his lips. "I healed his wounds right before he was going to die. He's alive, Kabuto, and he's stronger than ever."

Kabuto whimpered as the pressure on his hand increased. "You son of a bitch…"

"You think this is bad?" Sasuke snorted condescendingly. "You should see how Itachi's strength is now. It's twice as strong as mine if not more, and it's growing everyday," Sasuke let out a chuckle as he felt the bone that made up Kabuto's right index finger snap. "That sounded like it hurt…"

Sasuke lost all confidence as he felt something pierce into his leg that was on top of Kabuto's hand, his leg starting to burn at the feeling. His heart started to race, his vision clouding with shock as he eyes moved to see what was happening. A senbon had been lodged into his leg, he didn't know if it was poison or not.

"Damn it," he muttered almost unintelligibly.

Everything was getting blurry as he looked down into his enemy's eyes, he was laughing at him as he watched his body start to react. Was it poison? Was Kabuto really trying to kill him? As everything seemed to be lost he heard a voice call out from behind him, crying out his name.

"Sasuke!" the voice called out, it was Naruto running down to his best friend's side. "Sasuke, are you alright?"

"Stay back, Naruto!" Sasuke winced. "This guy… this is Kabuto Yakushi…" he swallowed hard. "He's the one who wants to kill you!"

The blond looked down at the ground in disbelief. This was the person that Sasuke had been talking about. This was the man who had taken Sakura away, the man who had started a rivalry with Itachi Uchiha. This was the one who worked for Orochimaru, this was Kabuto Yakushi.

Kabuto laughed as he drove the senbon deeper. "Naruto, I mean you no harm. The Uchiha brothers want to kill you, wipe you and that cursed spirit off of the face of the planet. Do you think you can trust Itachi Uchiha? He raped your best friend…"

"Don't listen to him!" Sasuke interrupted. "Don't use that night as a factor to decide who you go with. What happened that night wasn't what you thought it was…"

"You were the one who cried rape…" Kabuto rebutted, watching the Uchiha's legs buckle. "Now are you telling me that you enjoyed that night? To think that you almost got your brother killed because you lied to the village."

There was a silence as the needle was withdrawn, Sasuke falling to the ground quickly, coughing gently as he grasped his tightening chest. Was that needle _really _poisoned, and if it was, was he going to die? His eyes watered as he took deep breaths feeling his body start to tense. The drugs worked quickly, he could already feel them.

"As you can probably feel," Kabuto snickered maliciously as he stood up to his full height. "That needle was a poisoned one. You'll start to feel a little weak on your feet, but you won't die. No, you might live Sasuke Uchiha, for that wasn't supposed to kill its victim: the nine-tailed fox. I will have Naruto no matter what I have to do."

"You'll never get him," Sasuke breathed, clutching at his chest. "Itachi will kill you and Sakura before you make it out of this village. You'll pay for this, Kabuto; you'll pay for what you're doing to me…"

"Will I?" Kabuto snickered as he grabbed Sasuke's collar, pulling him closer. "I should have killed you so many times, but I decided to keep you alive. When you do die, Itachi will be there while I rip your heart out of your chest. And I can finally see him want to die, I can finally see the weak person that he really is."

The wind blew fiercer as Sasuke closed his eyes, water flowing down his cheeks. The one time where they needed to be together was the time when Sasuke was all alone. Itachi was a necessary component to their two man cell; he was the strength while Sasuke was the conscience that stopped Itachi from destroying Kabuto and Sakura too much. Without Itachi, this mission was pointless. There were going to fall. They were going to lose Naruto.

Something told him that wasn't an option. As he looked back at his best friend, he saw the look in his blue eyes. Naruto wasn't going to hand himself over so easily. He knew how hard his friend had been working to save him; he knew the pain that he was going through. Naruto made a promise that he was going to help Sasuke. This was his chance.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he fell to his knees. "What do I do?"

"R-run…" Sasuke panted. "Run away from here while you still have the chance. This man wants to kill you. I won't let him do that. I won't watch my comrades die. You're still my comrade, Naruto, you're still my friend. I will stay here and handle this."

Naruto closed his eyes as his fingers dug deeper into the dirt beneath them. "Sasuke… I won't leave you. I'm not going to run from you again. I'm not going to watch you die…"

Kabuto snickered. "How _touching_. Two friends that have spent eons away from each other are finally together again. Too bad this is the last time that you two will ever come together," he grasped another senbon. "This is the last time that fox will be in Konoha. I'm going to take him away."

Everything froze in place as he threw the senbon at Naruto, blue eyes welling up with fear. He couldn't move from his spot. Sasuke's heart wrenched as he watched the senbon going straight for Naruto. All he could think about was the Land of Waves. He could still see those needles within the ice mirrors. He could still feel them pierce into his skin as he slowly started to die. This was his only chance to save him. This was his chance to ensure that their purpose was going to work. Without thinking he moved himself in the way of the needle, taking it in his back.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out as they both fell to the ground, Sasuke on top of him. "Are you alright?"

The Uchiha let out a low breath as he remembered the tears rolling down his neck, thinking of the pain that Itachi had gone through. _Never again… I will never see you in that much pain again… even if I have to kill to insure that. I don't ever want to see tears fall from your eyes, not for me…_

There was a long silence as Naruto gently stroked Sasuke's face listening to him breathe heavily. Tears rolled down both of their cheeks as they held onto one another, Sasuke's coughing filling Naruto's ears. The poison was running hurriedly through his body. The rain fell as Sasuke struggled to roll off of his best friend's body feeling to heavy to even move.

"N-Naruto…" Sasuke sighed as he closed his eyes tightly, trying to clear the blurring vision that was behind his eyes. "I'm sorry that I couldn't stop this sooner. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this. I didn't…" he took a deep breath. "I didn't want this for you… I didn't want you to be taken from me. I didn't want to lose you this easily. I didn't want you to die because of me… or Itachi. I wanted you to live…"

Naruto shook his head. "You don't have to watch me die, because I won't die here…" he kissed Sasuke lightly on the lips as he rose to his feet. "Kabuto is going to pay for all that he's done to our team. He split us apart."

"Some of that credit goes to Itachi as well. He's the one who made Sasuke into the wreck you see today. You're weak, Sasuke, just like your brother. I hope he's happy now," the medical ninja pulled out another senbon, aiming at Naruto. "You're coming with me, Naruto. The Uchiha brothers are going to die."

As Kabuto stepped closer to Naruto, Sasuke's heart raced. This wasn't real. He wasn't going to lose his best friend like this. Everything that he had, everything that Konoha had given him, it was all gone. He could see the tears rolling down Itachi's cheeks, the sobs passing his lips as he looked at this had become. He had lost. Sasuke could see his reaction so clearly. He could see Shisui's dagger running through his chest, the smile on his face as he fell to the ground bleeding.

"_It's all over…"_

"No…" Sasuke breathed, closing his eyes trying to block out the blood that was rolling down his brother's lips. This wasn't how it was going to end. Itachi wasn't going to die because Sasuke let Kabuto Yakushi get the best of him.

"_It's all over…"_

"No," Sasuke swallowed hard, moving his stiff arm in front of his body. "Stop it!" he struggled to find his voice as he felt a tear fall from his own eye. "Stop it!"

His voice had a power that he didn't think was possible. He could feel his throat start to hurt as he tried to move, trying to save his best friend. He couldn't move, he couldn't even feel his body as he reached out. He was a disgrace to everyone who knew him. Once again he couldn't do what he was told. He was weak.

"Stop it! Please!" Sasuke begged. "Kabuto!"

Naruto looked down at Sasuke closing his eyes. "Sasuke… it's going to be alright."

Sasuke sobbed louder as he looked at the senbon in Kabuto's hand watching the traces of poison dripping off of the piece of metal. That was the same poison that was making sasuke's body stiff, the same poison that had frozen Itachi in his steps in the woods. He was going to use it on Naruto. It was over.

"Now die!" Kabuto called out as he threw the senbon at Naruto feeling a strange breeze through the air.

There was something wrong, something that he had never felt before. It was a strange chakra, stronger than he had ever felt, even stronger that Itachi's. The nine-tailed fox was starting to break free.

"Shit!" he called out as the senbon was thrown back at him, just barely missing his neck. _Is this the power the Akatsuki wants? Is this the power of the nine-tailed fox? Who would have thought that such a young boy would have such power?_

Sasuke swallowed hard as he saw the orange chakra starting to fill up the space, his body shaking as he drew his hand closer to him. "N-Naruto…" he shook his head as they closed his eyes. This was the power that was inside of his rival, the reason why he was always going to be better. This was the reason why Itachi was pursuing him.

Growls passed through Naruto's lips as he started to let go of all control that he had against the fox, Sasuke's eyes watering harder than they ever had before. His hands clenched, the earth cracking beneath his fingertips. Kabuto was going to be able to beat the fox no problem. Itachi was going to lose this.

"_It's all over…"_

"No," Sasuke shook his head, his eyes burning as the tears rolled down his cheeks. "Naruto… can you hear me?" his body shook as he looked through the rain, his black hair starting to fall in front of his eyes. "Naruto!" he struggled to his feet, choking as he felt his chest tighten. "Naruto!"

The medical ninja smiled as he watched the power seep from the young boy. "Naruto Uzumaki, what power you hold," he chuckled as he moved closer to it. "Calm down now, calm down and come with me. I'll take you to Sakura…"

"Don't listen to him!" Sasuke cried out. "He's going to kill you. Run away! Run while you still have the chance!"

Kabuto shot a deadly glare at Sasuke as to tell him that he was the next to die. He moved away from the fox, moving toward the Uchiha on the ground. As the growls continued to soar through the air, Sasuke and Kabuto looked into each other's eyes. Kabuto was going to kill him as he pulled out a kunai, watching the genin shiver from the cold rain.

"That's enough out of you," Kabuto hissed as he raised the kunai over Sasuke's head. "Itachi should have killed me when he had the chance. He would have been able to save you. Pity…"

Sasuke let out a whimper as he felt Kabuto move his hands to drive the kunai through his skull. Everything was changing; the place that he had once called home was burning with the fire of hatred right before his eyes. Everything that mattered to him getting destroyed in the process. Kabuto and Itachi were trying to change the world for him, both of them representing evils that Sasuke didn't want. He had no choice. He had to choose the lesser of the two evils.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed as he continued to cry. "I'm sorry… I failed you…" he dug his fingers deeper into the ground as he saw his own death coming. "I love you…"

Right before the end came for him, he looked up, drawn to the sound of Kabuto gagging. His eyes moved to see the man that had been threatening him on the ground gasping for air, desperately trying to pry Naruto off. The boy on top of Kabuto wasn't Naruto, Sasuke couldn't see any trace of his best friend in those ravenous eyes. All he could see was the beast that was within, the beast that damn organization wanted. Naruto would never kill someone like this, not after what Sasuke did to him.

"If you touch Sasuke," he growled, tightening his grip around Kabuto's neck, saliva running down the Sound ninja's chin, "I'll break your fucking neck!"

Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. "Naruto…"

All he could hear was gagging as he looked into Naruto's eyes. They weren't the blue ones that he had grown accustomed to. These eyes were red, filled with the craving of blood, filled with hatred for Kabuto. Naruto wasn't like that; he wasn't the type of person who would kill so easily. Then as he tried to move his body, it hit him. Naruto was doing to this because Sasuke was hurt in the process. He still cared for him after he'd abandoned him for so long.

Sasuke moved toward his best friend, picking up the dagger that he had dropped, crawling crookedly toward him, taking deep breaths, trying not to lose sight of the task that was at hand. Itachi was still waiting for him; he would be pissed if Sasuke never came home.

"_It's all over…"_

He closed his eyes tightly as he touched Naruto's shoulder. _No, Itachi, this is far from over. We can still win this. It doesn't have to end in death. _He held on tightly to his best friend. "Naruto… please, don't kill him. I know you're angry, but it doesn't have to end like this. To save Sakura we have to keep Kabuto alive."

The rain fell harder as Sasuke moved to be next to his best friend, trying to suppress the coughs that were coming from his lips, his chest tightening painfully from the poison that was going through his veins. Even if the eyes didn't look like Naruto wasn't in there, Sasuke could still see him deep within. As their hands touched he could still feel his presence loosen his grip on Kabuto's neck.

"S-Sasuke?" Naruto asked looking over at him, the chakra starting to fade.

They looked into each other's eyes as Sasuke fell to the ground, flat on his stomach, his eyes still looking up into blue ones. Everything for a few seconds seemed like it was going to go his way. This was far from over. Itachi was going to be able to live one more day knowing that his plan worked out. The fox was still in his hands. However, the poison that was rolling through Sasuke's body was real; he could feel it with every heartbeat. Kabuto had made his poisons stronger. He wasn't even sure if this one didn't kill.

"Itachi," he closed his eyes tightly. "I… did it…"

Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke?" he shook him lightly as the Uchiha's vision began to cloud. "Sasuke!"

His voice was fading as he fell away from everything. His back ached. He could even feel himself breathe anymore. All that he had done to save Naruto had ended the same way as in the Land of Waves, only this was real. He was going to die.

"I-Ita… chi…" Sasuke felt his whole body go numb from the poison. Itachi was right, it was over…

-----

Itachi felt a chill run through his body as he looked through the book, a cough passing his lips. Trace amount of blood ran through his lips. _That was the last of it; _he smiled lightly as he continued to turn the pages seeing the blood that had stained the paper. How did he survive that transition? How did he survive such a great drop in blood count? It was a miracle that he was still alive.

Another chill ran through his body, this time almost knocking him to the ground as he shuddered. What the hell was going on out there? Did something happen. Thinking about it, Sasuke had been gone a while. But nothing could have gone wrong.

"Sasuke," he looked out the window, trying to get back on topic after the chills stopped. There was something going on out there, something that could change the outlook on his plan.

Itachi always felt uneasy sending Sasuke into the storm alone, especially now that Kabuto was out there. Sasuke had gotten involved more than he wanted him to. He didn't want to watch as his brother was killed because he was too stupid to pull him out of a mission. He wasn't supposed to get hurt; he promised himself that no one on the opposing side was going to lay a hand on him. He was wrong again.

"Sasuke…" Itachi looked out the window, shaking his head lightly. "This has gone on far enough. I will take care of this once and for all. I'm going to make to stronger; no matter how long it takes. You'll never fall at that man's feet. I won't give him the pleasure."

-----

Sasuke opened his eyes to see himself still on the ground, the rain still falling from the sky. It was cold as he tried to move his stiff body from the ground, failing to do so. The poison that was coursing through his veins was taking effect, the agony of his joints burned through him like an inferno as he finally found the strength to try to stand.

Then it hit him: Naruto. Kabuto was here to take him away? Did he succeed while Sasuke was unconscious? No, he couldn't have allowed that to happen. All he could see were two possible reactions of his brother. Reaction one: Itachi would kill himself leaving Sasuke alone. Or reaction two: he would finally kill Sasuke for insubordination. He didn't know which one it was; he didn't even know what kind of person his brother was anymore. He had been under a lot of stress, only thinking about the mission. There was no time for rest for him. Every time Sasuke was sleeping, Itachi was working to make this mission work with the least bloodshed on their side.

_Did I lose? _Sasuke asked as he opened his eyes to look around in the darkness. A sense of loss went through his body as he thought of ways to break the news to Itachi. Itachi had risked his life to get the fox; he gave everything up to make them pay for what they did to him. Was it really all a waste? Did either of them really fulfill their purpose? Did either of them really put their all into this mission?

"Naruto," he breathed, groaning as he felt everything tighten, his muscles frozen in place. "Naruto?" he moved closer to the street. There had to be some way that he could tell that Naruto was going to be alright. The way that it was ending before he passed out seemed like it was in his favor, Kabuto was nearly dead.

He fell to his knees at the end of the road, his dark eyes looking down at the ground. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he thought about all he had lost. The second that Kabuto appeared, everything that was near and dear to him was gone. He was the one who could have pieced it all together, but he couldn't even do that. People would always be able to kick him around.

"Sasuke?" a voice called out from the distance. "Is that you?"

He looked up to se a familiar face, his body shaking violently. "K-Kurenai?" he shook his head as he fell to the ground, crying out in pain. "Damn it!"

The jounin fell to her knees to pick him off of the ground. "Sasuke, hold on, I'll bring you to the Gai's place, Kakashi will find a way to help you," she felt how stiff his muscles were. _He's been poisoned, no doubt about it._

"Kurenai," he breathed, clutching his side. "Where's Naruto?"

"He's with Iruka," she stated softly, holding onto him tighter, starting to walk faster toward the building where Kakashi and Gai were.

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as he felt himself being moved. Everything had worked out; he was able to save Naruto for a little while longer. He was able to halt Kabuto before he won. There was time to save Naruto and Sakura from this; he just had to work harder. He moved closer to Kurenai as he shivered, his muscles aching as he tried to move.

"What happened, Sasuke?" she asked as she continued to move down the streets. "What went on there?"

"I…" Sasuke couldn't even start to explain.

Would any one in Konoha care about yet alone understand his motives with Itachi? Would they understand that the village was in danger if they didn't do this? No, they wouldn't, they had their idea of Itachi. It was never going to change no matter what Sasuke said in his favor. They were all going to make references to that damn night when Itachi raped him. They were fools.

"It's okay," she stated. "Don't strain yourself."

Sasuke closed his eyes as he thought about what he'd been doing for so long. If they only knew that he was the one who was helping Itachi throughout this whole act. If only they knew that they were the reason why Sakura was gone. They would never understand. They would only separate them from each other.

As he was carried further, Sasuke could only think about Itachi, these were the times where he was the most concerned for him. Why were they doing that to each other? Neither of them thought before they did anything. Itachi came home with wounds all of the time, the day when he fought Asuma Sarutobi still running through Sasuke's mind. He had never seen that much of his brother's blood before that moment. The next time he saw him bleed severely was the only thing that he would see when he closed his eyes. The thought of his hands covered with that blood as he heard Itachi choke caused his heart to stop. Why were they always getting hurt? Why now when the most important thing was for them to stick together?

Doors swung open as he heard footsteps speed up. "Kakashi! Gai! I found him!"

He couldn't see anything as he opened his eyes, nothing but blurs. He could only recognize the voices that were in his ears. His body was completely numb as he was moved to be laid down on something, someone taking him from Kurenai's grip.

"What the hell happened?"

_Kakashi… _Sasuke opened his eyes trying to see his sensei's face, but to no avail. All he could do was look into the darkness and imagine what Itachi was doing right now. Sasuke had been gone since last night, Itachi probably was thinking the worst.

"He's been poisoned, just as Naruto said," Kurenai continued. "We're going to need a medical ninja…"

"Where are we going to find one of those at such short notice?" Gai asked. "Fully trained medical ninja are hard to come by…"

There was a silence as Sasuke gagged lightly; still trying to open his eyes to see what was going on around him. Was Naruto here? Was he watching all of this? Was he watching as his best friend tried to move but couldn't do a thing about it?

"They don't need to be fully trained, Gai," Kurenai continued. "They just need to know how to neutralize poison."

"I know someone…" Kakashi stated lightly. "I know you won't like it but he's our only hope in this case," he took a deep breath. "We need to consult Itachi Uchiha…"

"Itachi?" Gai spat. "No way in Hell!"

Sasuke tried to open his eyes as he only managed to mutter one phrase. "I'm alright, you d-don't need to g-get him," he swallowed hard, his throat burning as he did so. "He'll be angry at me…"

"He has a right to know that you're alive…" Kakashi continued as he touched Sasuke's right hand, stroking the glove. "He can neutralize the poison Gai. We don't know how strong it is. It was supposed to be able to paralyze the nine-tail fox. Who knows what it should do to Sasuke if it's inside of him for too long…?"

"But if you bring him here, what makes you think that he won't kill any of us?" Gai asked. "He's hurt us before, he could do it again."

"He'll cooperate for Sasuke's well being. We saved his brother from the rain, the least that he could do is leave us be. And then we could obtain information about what's going on with Sakura…"

Sasuke's body froze at the mention of her name. "S-Sakura?" he turned his head to the side as he felt Kurenai move to untie his forehead protector. The three jounin were crowded around him trying to help as best as they could. Sasuke was grateful.

"Kurenai, call Asuma and tell him to get Itachi. Gai go get some ice. We're going to have to see what kind of poison that this Kabuto Yakushi uses in his attacks. If it is deadly…" he sighed. "Which I pray it's not, Itachi might not be able to neutralize it. He's not a specialist, but he's the only one that we're going to get at such short notice."

Sasuke opened his eyes to see his sensei's face through blurred vision as the other two jounin walked their separate ways. "Kakashi… don't bring him here… he'll…"

"Sasuke, he'll be even angrier if we don't tell him what happened to you. If you're going to bring Sakura back you're going to have to work together with your brother to do so. Itachi is going to have to know about this. You've been hurt."

"No," Sasuke tried to argue. "If h-he finds out about this… S-Sakura's in more danger than she was before. He'll kill her," he held on tightly to his sensei's hand as he heard Kurenai call Asuma. "He's going to kill Sakura… he'll kill her…" he exhaled sharply. "He'll kill… S-Sakura…"

Sasuke closed his eyes; it was too late to fight this.

-----

_Where are you? _Itachi walked out of the house as the rain fell harder to the ground. His heart was wrenching with every passing second, Sasuke hadn't come home since last night. There must have been something wrong, the chills that were running through his body, the pain in his chest it all meant something.

Itachi looked up into the rain as he heard footsteps come up to him. He knew someone would come to him eventually; there was no way that he would ever be able to be free from people filtering in and out of his life. This was different though, this wasn't Kabuto. As he turned around to see who it was, he almost fainted in shock.

"Asuma? What are you doing here?" he took a step back as the jounin moved closer to him. "You're not allowed to touch me…"

The jounin moved closer to him as he sighed. "Listen Itachi, I have something that you have to do. Come with me, I'll take you to Kakashi," he watched as the young ninja shook his head with disgust. "We need you…"

Itachi looked off into the distance. "So they finally sent you to take me away? Figures, the old man doesn't even know what a contract is," he turned to the jounin to see a distant look in his eyes.

This wasn't the usual look in a pursuer's eyes; he was here not to take him away, but to take him someplace where he was actually needed. Then it hit him, throughout this whole night everything was a sign to show that there was something wrong. He knew it now, there was something wrong with Sasuke.

"What happened to him?" Itachi asked as he looked into Asuma's eyes. "Where is he now?"

"He's with Kakashi," Asuma stated softly. "As for what happened… he was poisoned by Kabuto when he was looking for the nine-tails. We don't know whether it will kill him or just paralyze him. He seems to be in stable condition right now. We have a question…"

"Yeah?" Itachi asked taking a deep breath. "What is it?"

"Do you…?" Asuma took a deep breath. "Do you know how to neutralize poisons?"

Itachi closed his eyes. "Somewhat, I've been researching medical ninjutsu, but I don't know if it will work. It's too risky. If I screw up, the outcome could be worse than it is right now."

"You're his only hope," Asuma begged as he looked straight at the Uchiha. "Itachi, please, there's nothing left for us to do. We've given Naruto to Iruka to keep him in better hands, but he insisted that we save Sasuke."

Itachi took a deep breath as he clenched his hand into a fist. "Then take me there."

There was a small silence as Asuma smiled, looking straight at the Uchiha. There might be hope for solving this problem after all. All they needed was for Itachi to come to help them.

-----

"I still don't like the fact that he's coming," Gai huffed as he looked out the window. "Isn't there any other person that you know who could do the job for us? You know how I feel about that bastard… after what he did to you…"

Kakashi placed the pack of ice on Sasuke's chest hearing the body moan in pain. "We're not sure how deadly this poison is. Kabuto wouldn't have used it on him that much if it wasn't toxic," he wiped the sweat off of Sasuke's forehead. "It's rolling through his system as we speak."

As Gai was about to open his mouth to speak the door opened, Asuma walking through the door with a smile on his face. "We got him," he moved out of the way clearing a path for the next person to walk through: Itachi Uchiha.

"Sasuke!" he ran immediately to the couch, falling to his knees next to his brother. "What the hell happened?" he looked into his eyes, watching them become a glassy grey. "Are you alright?"

Sasuke shook lightly. "Itachi… I'm sorry…"

"Don't be an idiot, Sasuke. Don't apologize to me," Itachi bit his lip as he touched his brother's forehead, hearing him release a shuttering moan. "I'm glad that you came out of this alive… I was worried about you…"

Kakashi looked over at Itachi. "What do you need in order to extract the poison?"

"I need to first off see where the problem area is. Where was he hit?" Itachi looked down at Sasuke. "Can you tell me where you were hit? What parts of your body did Kabuto manage to get a poisonous senbon pieced through?"

Sasuke swallowed hard. "My back and leg…"

Itachi looked back at Asuma and Gai. "I want you to move him into the bedroom. I can do better practice when I'm in there. Kurenai, get me a few bowls of water. Kakashi, I want you to sit and relax, the last thing that we want is for you to hurt yourself."

"I will watch what you do to that boy," Kakashi hissed. "I still care about him after all. You're going to save him, Itachi. I know you will…" he placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder, his other hand stroking his face, moving his hair from his rain moist face. "I have faith in you…"

Itachi backed away from him, his eyes filled with heartbreak. "I have work to do…" he walked away from Kakashi as he moved toward the door. "You can come with me if you really want to."

Kakashi closed his eye. "Why do we hate each other, Itachi? Sometimes when I look at you I forget," he took a step toward him. "I forget everything that we've done in our past when I look at you right now. You're not the same person, you've changed so much. It's like deep inside of you, you're still alive. You didn't die that night."

Itachi looked back at him before walking into the room, answering his question quickly. "You broke my heart, plain and simple…"

Kakashi watched as he walked into the other room, Kurenai following him with a bowl of water, handing it to Gai, quickly moving back to get another one. This was the moment that was hurting Kakashi the most, this was the moment where he was going to watch as one of his students went through the greatest amounts of pain he had ever been in. He walked forward hearing Sasuke beg.

"Itachi, please, you don't have to do this…" the young boy was shaking, tears rolling down his cheeks as Kurenai passed Kakashi placing the bowl on the night stand next to the bed.

Gai was the first jounin to speak up. "What exactly are you going to do to him?"

"A very delicate procedure, one that I've never tried before, I've only read about it, but it seems simple enough," Itachi looked down at Sasuke nervously, noticing the anger in his eyes. "Don't give me that look…"

"So I'm a test?" Sasuke asked, rolling his eyes. "Great, this is going to be a lot more painful than I thought," he closed his eyes.

Itachi looked at Gai and then Asuma as he moved toward the bowl of water. "I want you all to hold him down for me. This is going to hurt and if he moves it could cause some complications,"

"It hurts?" Asuma asked. "What kind of technique is this?"

Itachi pulled out a kunai and looked down at his brother. "Let's see what kind of poison this is," closing his eyes tightly, he pushed the kunai into Sasuke's thigh expecting the boy to cry out in pain. He heard nothing; all he heard were gasps from the jounin as he did so. Sasuke looked up at him with confused eyes as he watched the blood trickle from his leg.

"You crazy son of a bitch! What was that for?" Gai asked, looking at Itachi with hatred in his glance.

"It showed me that it was definitely one of Kabuto's poisons," Itachi shook his head. "It's gotten to Sasuke's whole body, if too much of it gets to his heart it could paralyze the muscle," he looked at Asuma and then at Gai. "You two are going to have to hold him down. Kurenai, I want you to save some of the poison when I extract it. Kakashi, you can just sit here and watch…"

Asuma took Sasuke's left shoulder and Gai took the right as the genin looked into his brother's eyes, watching him move toward the bowl. His pulse was accelerating as he tried to move to reach out to him. He knew that if he did manage to reach him, he wouldn't be able to feel how soft his flesh was, he wouldn't be able to feel those hands hold his. He was being robbed of that sensation.

"Itachi…" Sasuke breathed as he moved to hand to touch his arm, he couldn't feel anything, nothing but the pain of heartbreak as he knew that his brother was far away from him, too far out of his reach. "I can't feel anything…" he swallowed hard as he watched his brother's hand dip into the water. "What are you…?"

Everyone was shocked as Itachi removed his hand from the bowl all of the water in an orb that surrounded his hand. This was one of the many techniques that Itachi was reading about while he was sitting in bed recovering from his wound to his lungs. Sasuke knew that there was something different about him as he started to write down more notes.

"Okay," Itachi breathed as he moved the orb to Sasuke's chest, pushing his chakra through his brother's body. "Try not to move Sasuke…"

"You think I can move?" Sasuke asked as he watched the bubble go through his chest, Itachi muttering something to himself as sweat formed at his temples. Sasuke watched as he saw the determination in his brother's eyes, he was worried that he was going to hurt one of them in this process.

_I can do this, _Itachi gulped as he felt something rest on his shoulder, it was Kakashi's hand. He focused on the orb, extracting the poison from the cells of his heart, drawing them into the orb. He watched as Sasuke's body shook lightly, his heart rate racing as Itachi drew the toxin. The last step was now at hand, pull it out.

"Got it," Itachi breathed as he pulled the orb out of Sasuke's body with his left hand, watching everyone in the room's eyes widen with shock, there was no way that he could have done so well on his first try.

"Th-that's the poison?" Sasuke asked shakily as he watched his brother walk back over to the bowl. "Am I going to be alright then? Am I starting to get feeling back yet?"

"In time," Itachi breathed as he moved to the bowl, drawing some of the poison into a smaller bowl, his left hand moving to obtain another orb as Kakashi wiped the sweat form his forehead. "Keep holding him down…" he took hold of another bowl of water moving toward Sasuke's chest again. "I don't want your heart to stop on me."

Sasuke swallowed hard as he watched his brother's eyes close lightly. "Brother…"

"I'm going to kill Kabuto the second that I see him again," Itachi calmed down instantly as he repeated the action, Gai and Asuma still holding Sasuke in place as the older Uchiha did his work, extracting the poison.

Sasuke could feel his brother start to break right in front of him, he was worried. Judging by the dark circles under his eyes, he didn't get any sleep last night, the thoughts of Shisui had plagued him without mercy. He wasn't going to be able to take this anymore, Itachi was going to be filled with murderous intent the next time they met Sakura and Kabuto. They weren't going to survive.

Watching the poison come out in the orb made Sasuke realize that this was a lot more serious than he thought, the jounin had to call someone of Itachi's level to save him. That alone showed that this was extreme.

"Itachi?" Kakashi asked as Itachi moved to the second bowl, getting lost in the swirling dark liquid. "What poison is this? Is Sasuke in anymore danger?"

He looked over at the man who was standing next to him. "I think that I've eliminated this down to a single poison. Judging by the way that he was in pain it is a stronger strain of his regular poison. This was to capture the nine-tailed fox, this wasn't meant for him, he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

The jounin released Sasuke as Gai and Asuma looked at the other Uchiha. "Is this Kabuto character going to bring Sakura to Orochimaru?"

Itachi nodded. "He's running out of time in his current body, he needs a new one, and Kabuto's going to hand deliver her to him," he started to mix the poison with some vials that he took out of his pouch. "Orochimaru will use anyone that Kabuto could get; perhaps getting Sasuke out of the picture would help him boost his chances of not going after the sharingan."

Gai sat on the bed, looking down at Sasuke. "So what do we do now?"

"Prepare Konoha for any onslaught that he has waiting. I will take care of Sasuke's training," Itachi looked back at the taijutsu master. "It's the only way to save the village…"

"You think I'm going to trust you with Sasuke, after you raped him?" Gai asked raising his voice. "What do you take us for? Fools? We're not going to let you torture us anymore, you aren't needed."

Sasuke looked at Gai. "Stay out of this; you don't know what I want…" he tried to sit up, watching Itachi's eyes move to him. "You all don't understand what I need anymore do you. Itachi fucks up a few times and you all of a sudden want to kill him. He's the reason why all of you are even still alive. Kabuto would have destroyed you all by now. He stopped him."

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed as he closed his eyes. "Don't speak; you're going to hurt yourself."

Gai looked at Itachi and then at Sasuke, finally realizing the truth. "You guys are having sex, aren't you?"

Itachi almost dropped the bowl of liquid as he heard Gai say those words. He was never going to get used to that observation. It's about time that everyone knew what was going on between him and Sasuke. It was odd thinking about the whole village talking about it. Then again, they did make it obvious.

"Holy shit!" Gai gasped as he looked over at Kakashi. "Did you know about this…?"

"I knew since the day that Sasuke brought Itachi up that there was something going on between them," the copy ninja looked over at Itachi who was still mixing the antidote. "I didn't doubt it for a second."

Everything was silent as Itachi sighed, looking back at Sasuke who was lying on the bed. "I'm going to work him harder than I ever have before; this is a big step for the both of us. This is everything that we worked for. It all comes down to what we can do. Support from Konoha would be ideal, we need as much back-up to get Sakura back into the village as we can get."

Sasuke looked down at his leg watching it bleed, feeling the searing burn returning to his body. His body was starting to regain its ability to feel just by having a couple ounces of the poison removed from his body. There was still hope for him after all; he was going to save Naruto, even if it killed him.

"Itachi," Sasuke panted with a smile. "My leg hurts…"

The older brother looked at what was going on with his younger brother. His eyes moved right to the blood that was staining the sheets. His hands moving to heal the wound, the glow of chakra filling the room, everything was starting to go his way; the medical techniques weren't backfiring yet.

"How long have you been working on that?" Kurenai asked as the wound closed.

"A little over a month," Itachi breathed as he applied the finishing touches to healing the wound. "Why do you ask?"

"You're amazing at it," Kurenai continued. "You're practically an expert, and all you did was read a book."

"I'm a quick study," Itachi breathed as he backed away from Sasuke, moving to grasp the bowl that was behind him. "Drink this, it should help get rid of some of the poison that's in his body."

Sasuke hesitantly took the bowl as he placed it up against his lips pouring the liquid into his mouth. It tasted like charcoal, made him want to retch. He couldn't swallow it no matter how hard he tried. He closed his eyes tightly gulping down a little, his body shaking as he did so. It lacquered his throat, hardening quickly, he swallowed more trying his hardest not to vomit, feeling his brother's hand on his knee. He coughed as he lowered the bowl looking into his eyes, shaking gently.

"Are you alright?" Itachi asked as he closed the vial, placing it in his pouch again. "Do you feel better?"

"I feel like I'm going to puke," Sasuke sputtered, the liquid rolling down his chin, he swallowed again trying to force the solidifying antidote down his throat. "It tastes like shit!"

Itachi chuckled as he started to re-dress his brother. "We're going to go home now Sasuke. Say thank you to all of the jounin who brought you here."

"Thanks," Sasuke breathed gently as Itachi tied the young boy's forehead protector around his head. Itachi was a different person than he remembered. It was amazing what a few days sick in bed could do to him.

As they started to move to the door, Itachi's arm draped around Sasuke's shoulders, the older Uchiha looked back at them with a small smirk no his face. "Any information that you ever get from me is not from a reliable source, I want you all to remember that I'm completely biased against the Sound Village."

"We know that," Kakashi stated calmly. "So are we…"

Itachi nodded as he walked toward the door holding Sasuke tightly. As they walked through the door, it closed quickly. The second their ears filled with the slam, their lips touched each others in a passionate kiss, Sasuke's body being picked up off of the ground, his hands pressed up against his brother's shoulder blades.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again," Itachi breathed, moving to bite at Sasuke's neck hearing him cry out. "I wouldn't know what to do if he killed you…"

Sasuke swallowed hard around the solid that was caked in his throat. "I guess this means we have to work harder, no more time for leisure activities. You're going to have to work me harder than you've ever worked me before."

Itachi kissed him one last time before he placed him on ground with a smile on his face. "I guess that we will have to work harder, and we'll give them all hell. Together we're going to make all of this work out."

Together they walked toward the door, Sasuke moving closer to Itachi as they walked out into the world, the sun rising slowly over the horizon. For once in their time together they knew that they would be able to win this. All they had to do was work.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This was a really long chapter, and again I know that after only a few days of reading about medical ninjutsu Itachi shouldn't be this good, but it helps the story move along a little more. The next chapter will start the final arc for sure and will include what I believe to be the last lemon of the story. Only eight more chapters to go until the end (it's a lot more than you think...) So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that Kabuto should have gotten Naruto? Honesty is always good.

Can't wait to start the last arc, I've been loosking forward to it the whole story...


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or anything that has to do with the anime/manga.

**Warnings: **THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A LEMON (but there is some pretty important content in here too)! It also include yaoi, incest, sexual content, coarse language, thoughts of homicide, references to rape, slight thoughts of suicide, some dark themes, OOC, and the canon is not a main factor. This is also a pretty long chapter (not as long as some) and there are many errors in here as well.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, NaruSaku, slight SasuSaku

* * *

More liquid poured into the vials as he thought back to what happened all of those days ago. If that Uchiha brat hadn't interfered with the capturing of the fox, he would be on his way to the Akatsuki right now. Instead he was here working his ass off to find a way to still accomplish his mission before the organization found out about his failure. 

_You think you're going to win this, Itachi? _He continued to pour the liquid. _I disagree; you're once again going to be at my mercy. The poison that went through your brother's veins was strong enough to stop his heart. Even you can't reverse that. You're going to be sidetracked for a while. It's already been a week since then. _He took a deep breath as he looked over at Sakura who was sitting on the bed filling her senbon with poison, brushing the pink hair out of her face.

She was perfect for this; there was no way that he would be able to fail with when it came to Sasuke. It was the other brother that they were worried about: Itachi. Itachi had only gotten stronger. He had now mastered medical ninjutsu and increased his strength ten-fold; he was going to be almost impossible to beat. They had to find a way to delay him. Kabuto suddenly cursed taking Sasuke out of the picture.

The pain that Sasuke had sent surging through his body was still there, he was definitely stronger, Itachi was already ten steps ahead of Kabuto. He had to work quickly, otherwise he could lose all the control that he had over Sakura, the second that she found out that this wasn't a real mission was the second that he lost all control over the fox's destiny. He had to work harder.

"Kabuto?" Sakura asked as he looked over at him. "When are we going to save Naruto?"

"Soon," he answered, continuing to mix the poison. _I wonder how long it will take for that damn Uchiha to find out the antidote for this one. He's becoming a real pain in my ass._

Sakura continued to work on her senbon. "I'm getting anxious; I just want this day to come faster. This village is getting to dangerous and if what Sasuke said about Itachi is true… then we'll all die for nothing."

"We can defeat him…" Kabuto stated. "Have faith in us… we're going to go after him soon, Sakura, so continue to work on the senbon and work up some chakra, this could be the greatest mission that we've ever been through in our time together. You have to be able to give everything that we have up; there is no going back once you go to the Sound Village…"

"There is nothing here for me if Naruto can come with us. It just hurts that I can't get through to Sasuke. One day I will come back for him when I am strong enough to beat Itachi," she closed her eyes tightly. "Someday I'm going to make this all right again. Nobody else has to get hurt."

Kabuto smiled as he continued mixing the poisons. _She's such a sweet young girl, who would have thought that I would be able to get her so easily?_ _Itachi, this girl is going to be your undoing just you watch. And if you do kill her… there will be no hard feelings, it will buy me some time._

He continued to mix as he thought about what he always wanted, the grand struggle. He wanted to watch as Itachi's eyes filled with fear, his body shaking as he begged him to stop. He could almost taste the delight as he watched him give up.

_That day will come, sooner than you think… the fox is mine!_

-----

"Try again," Itachi breathed as he leaned up against a tree. "We don't have much time left. Kabuto is going to kill you if you keep fighting like this. You can do better than this, do it again!"

_He's having a bad day today, _Sasuke breathed as he watched his brother close his eyes lightly. It had been a long week for the both of them. This was crunch time up against Kabuto, the time where time for fun was over while they still had sunlight. They worked from dawn until dusk, both of them worn out beyond belief.

However every night before they went to bed, their relationship as lovers progressed over the last few days. The nights were long but they were filled with the sweetest passion that he had ever seen. Itachi had been different then he was before Sasuke got poisoned, they no longer were having the sex that they had been having for before, it actually seemed like it meant something, it was different.

The training however was grueling, Itachi was going insane as he taught Sasuke not only how to use jutsu, but also choreography for proper fighting. He was harder than Kakashi ever was, the plus side to this was after he was done training there was always a reward for his hard work.

Sasuke looked over at him, his heart racing as he tried to catch his breath. "Can't we take a break?" he fell to his knees. "We've been working all day, I need some time to rest," he clutched his head as he swallowed hard. "I have a headache, Itachi…"

The older brother moved to sit next to him, stroking his back. "You have been working hard haven't you? I guess we could call it a day…"

"Does that mean you want to have sex?" Sasuke asked trying to catch his breath. "Or does that mean that we're just going to sit down for a while and then start working our asses off again? We can't live off of alcohol and apples and then expect to go into full scale battle."

"We can win; you've come a long way. You've finally mastered everything that I've thrown at you, you've even come a long way with the clone technique," Itachi smiled happily. "I can feel it this time; I can feel us winning this. Kabuto doesn't stand a chance…"

"You're obsessed," Sasuke breathed, falling to rest on the ground looking up into the sky. "I don't know if I can do anything else all day, I can hardly move," he licked his lips lightly. "I just want to lie down…"

Itachi looked up into the sky at the same point that Sasuke was. _After all of this time I thought that he wasn't going to get this far. Now as I look at him I see a different boy than I had before, he's becoming stronger than Kakashi… possibly stronger than me… _he placed as hand on his brother's shoulder. "You can take a few minutes off…"

"You're finally done dictating to me?" Sasuke asked, taking deep breaths. "I thought for sure that you would be giving me orders until I was worn out…"

Itachi smiled, his heart finally feeling as though it could be set free. He could finally feel the warmth that Sasuke had been trying to show him for so long. There was more than just pain and devastation. There was love as well. Shisui was wrong; he was able to love someone else other than him. He loved Sasuke.

"You can go inside and rest if you want, we won't start again for a while," the older Uchiha smiled. "You can take a nap…"

"I don't want to sleep," Sasuke breathed. "I just want us to have interaction today that isn't training. It's like we're on a schedule and it's starting to annoy the hell out of me. We train in the morning, have sex at night, then the next day it's the same thing. I want something different…"

Itachi asked his eyes wide. "What more do you want from me?"

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed seductively as he was splayed out on the ground. "I just want you to kiss me, you need time to unwind. We've been training since six this morning. It's fucking noon. We've been at this for six hours; can't we just have a little time for us?" he moved his hand to stroke Itachi's face, feeling the sweat that was clinging to his skin already. "Itachi… come on…"

"Sasuke," Itachi sighed.

"Kiss me…" Sasuke moved forward to take his brother's lips in a light kiss. "There was no harm done in that, was there?" he started to move away as he stood up to continue training. "I think I can manage to keep training now…"

Itachi touched his lips lightly as he watched Sasuke walk behind him, pulling the kunai out of the ground. He had been working hard, his body still shuddering as he tried to catch his breath, his skin glowing with the layer of sweat that had covered him from their sparring. Itachi couldn't even look at him without wanting to take him, without wanting to put off the training just to be with him for one more moment. But the time was drawing closer to when Kabuto was going to make his move.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as the young boy looked back at him. "You've mastered everything that I wanted you to in this week. That takes a lot of talent…"

"You've worked me from six in the morning to eleven at night. Do you expect me not to get a lot done?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the look in his brother's eyes. "What's on your mind?"

"Sasuke…" Itachi sighed. "This is an extremely dangerous mission, where one of us might not come out alive…" he shook his head. "Kabuto's only gotten stronger as well and if he did give word the Akatsuki to intervene, then this could be the fight of our lives…" he sighed again. "What I'm trying to say is…"

"You don't have to say anymore," Sasuke breathed, walking toward him quickly. "I get it…"

With that said, Itachi didn't even have the chance to respond to that, Sasuke's lips were pressed passionately up against his, tongues colliding passionately. Itachi's heart raced as he realized that Sasuke had been thinking the same thing. They could die in a month or they could die in an hour, there was no telling when the fight was going to start. This could be one of their last moments.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed grabbing at his brother's ponytail. "Please…"

The air around them became hazy as they continued to kiss one another, their bodies moving closer. Sasuke moaned as his back was pressed into the grass below him, his tongue slipping past his brother's tight lips, earning a moan from him as hands moved underneath closing to stroke the flesh beneath, the younger Uchiha purring at the contact.

They were supposed to be training, this was supposed to be the time where they prepared against Kabuto, yet this was a dream come true for Sasuke, this was a miraculous dream that he would never want to awaken from. In the last moments of his life he was with Itachi. This was the best and worst time he had ever lived through.

"If we die," Itachi breathed, moving to kiss at Sasuke's neck. "We die together…"

Sasuke felt his legs shake as he felt his brother's tongue run along his jaw line, warmth pooling quickly in his stomach. His vision was clouding as his hands moved to clutch at the crest that was on Itachi's back. He couldn't take this anymore as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"I…" he breathed before Itachi took his lips again, not letting him speak. Sasuke closed his eyes tightly, more tears rolling down his cheeks. He couldn't help but move his hands to the bottom of Itachi's shirt as if saying _I want this off_, he of course was only met with soft chuckle as his brother moved away from him.

"I guess training's done," Itachi breathed as he moved to untie Sasuke's forehead protector clutching it tightly. "I guess that you've finally had enough of the work for a while," he kissed against his bare forehead, listening to Sasuke softly whisper his name. "I know what you want…"

Sasuke screwed his eyes shut as he felt his brother's hands outline his body, stopping right at his hips, his right one moving to caress his abdomen, the muscles shaking beneath his touch. Deep breaths passed his lips as he tried to contain himself, trying to give into Itachi's sweet kisses.

He swallowed audibly. "I-Itachi…"

"Shhh," Itachi breathed as he kissed at his neck again. "I know…"

They were outside so that any curious person could walk down and see them. Luckily for them, they all knew that Itachi and Sasuke were having sex. There was nothing that he was worried about, except Naruto. If he was stolen soon, Sasuke's whole world would change; he could even lose his life. With that thought in mind, he moved his fingers down to undo his own pants.

Sasuke panted, pushing his brother off of his neck. "Please… Itachi, f-fuck me…"

His words were interrupted as Itachi gently kissed him again, starting to pull the young boy's pants down. They were still outside where the whole world could see them, Sasuke's heart racing at the aspect. For too long they had been locked in that room during the times of their lovemaking. This place was new, the smell of fresh air running through his lungs.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he kissed his brother on the cheek. "Just remember that no matter what you see in the woods, no matter what you come across later on, I love you."

Sasuke kissed him back, deeper than he thought he was able in his half worn out state, his body moving up against his passionately as he craved him, needed him. The world seemed to stop on it's axis as he swallowed hard, his shaking hands moving to grasp as his brother's body. Why did it have to come down to this, both of them holding each other like they were going to die? Sasuke never wanted to feel like this, he never wanted to feel like he was going to lose Itachi in the blink of an eye. Everything was more secure back then; he thought that it would stay like that forever. Now every heartbeat had to be savored, because it could be their last.

"Itachi," Sasuke closed his eyes as he felt his brother move his legs apart, sliding down his body to rest in between them, his fingers stroking his inner thigh.

The way that Itachi's fingers moved, the way that he pressed his lips up against his kneecaps; it made all circulation in Sasuke's body stop. He could get lost in the movements of his brother's body as he gently stroked his flesh looking down into his eyes. Everything that Itachi did was magical, a magic that Sasuke would never be able to resist no matter how he tried.

"Itachi," he breathed, clutching at the grass, watching his brother start to suck on his fingers. "Out here?"

"Do you have a problem with out here?" Itachi asked around his fingers, his eyes never breaking from his younger brother's his hands starting to tremble.

Sasuke had no problem with doing this outside, he just wanted to taste his brother's lips one last time, he wanted to experience the pleasure that his body could give him. He couldn't wait any longer as he looked up at Itachi as he sucked harder at the fingers. He was rushing with the foreplay, barely giving them anytime to prepare. Itachi had a lot on his mind. He could see the fear of death in Itachi's eyes, something he hadn't seen since the night that he was brought to the jounin to extract Kabuto's poison out of Sasuke's body. This was the fear the last real moment that they were going to be together. Out of nervousness and raw passion, he was rushing this.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, sliding the fingers out of his brother's mouth. "We don't have to die during this; we could both come out alive. There doesn't always have to be a death in everything that happens, maybe this is the struggle where everyone will live…"

There was a silence as Itachi's hands moved to push Sasuke to the ground, the young boy moaning lightly as he could see the pain in his brother's eyes. This wasn't going to be another one of their usual sessions, everything that Itachi was feeling was to be poured throughout their bond. Sasuke knew that this wasn't going to be just sex to Itachi. This was going to be a farewell.

Their lips clashed again, Sasuke's body shuddering beneath his brother's touch, feeling his fingers starting to wander lower, starting to prod inside of him. All he could manage to do was moan at the contact. This was his farewell, the last thing that he was going to do before they started to focus solely on the mission. Sasuke felt a tear roll down his cheek; he was going to miss this. He was going to miss the simplicity of their life as the complexity came. Every sensation was to be savored, not one could be overlooked.

"I-Ita…!" Sasuke moaned as he felt the fingers push into him deeper, gently grazing at his prostate, driving him deeper into the rainbow kaleidoscope of their passion. He felt more tears roll down his cheeks as he felt the fingers move deeper. How much more of this could he take?

The fingers were enough to make his arousal pulse harder his body shuddering fiercely as he closed his eyes tightly awaiting his brother to enter him. He tried to formulate words but all that were coming through his lips were mindless babblings, incoherent outcries of his brother's name. He could see the delight light up in Itachi's eyes as he reopened his own. The heat was welcoming him, as were Sasuke's spread legs, his tongue moving quickly to lick at his lips. Sasuke was patiently waiting, wanting his brother to come closer to him, wanting Itachi to be inside of him.

"I love you," Sasuke breathed as he felt the fingers dance deep within him, his inner walls working shakily around the digits. "Itachi! Please…" he swallowed extremely hard, his eyes screwing shut tighter than before, his fingers pulling up the grass that he was fisting. "Pl-please…" he shook his head as he felt the fingers continue to assault his prostate. "M-make love to me…"

A gasp passed the older Uchiha's lips as the fingers froze. "You don't want me to _fuck _you."

Sasuke giggled as he heard his brother curse, it always put a smile on his face. "I want you to make love to me…" he took a deep breath. "I want to remember this for the rest of the time that I'm granted to live. I don't want this to fade away…"

Itachi snickered lightly as he withdrew his fingers, spitting gently in his hand as he unzipped his pants with the other. Everything was unclear, Sasuke could hardly even make out his brother's face as he was masked by the pleasure that he was giving him. Waiting patiently, he looked up into his brother's eyes letting out a single sort purr.

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed as he moved down to kiss his brother's lips fully, stroking himself, coating himself in the saliva that was in his hand.

Moans were poured into the kiss as his tongue invaded Sasuke's mouth, sliding over every tooth, their bodies shuddering up against one another in a combination of pain and longing. This distance from each other was starting to kill them. Sasuke got lost in the cries that were passing his brother's lips every time that they separate from their kisses. It was a small desperate cry, as if he was asking some higher power if this was it, if this was how it ended.

Time passed as Sasuke lost focus on what was going on, the sweet kisses leaving his lips, as his brother moved back to look down into his eyes. Sasuke could still see the tears that Itachi had been trying to hide this whole time. Moving his shaking hand he moved to stroke Itachi's cheek, trying to wipe the metaphorical tears away, but they were never going away, they were here to stay.

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed as he grasped his wrist, kissing lightly at his palm. "I love you…" he closed his eyes tightly. "Don't ever forget that…"

Sasuke felt his brother draw closer, pushing at his entrance, a strangled cry passing his lips. "I-I love you too…" his voice shook violently as he fisted the grass tighter. "I-Itachi…"

As Sasuke felt himself being entered by his brother, all he could think about was all that they had been through, all of this pain, all of this agony. How could either of them survive this? Why didn't they give up while they were ahead? Why did Itachi risk everything to get to Sasuke? Why?

"Itachi!" Sasuke breathed as he felt his brother inside of him, their breath becoming heavier as the younger Uchiha let out strangled moans, a smile rolling across his lips. "I…"

Sasuke felt his lips being taken again, the invisible tears rolling down Itachi's cheeks to his. All he could see was the pain that Itachi had gone though in the woods. Why was he doing this? He should have run away, he shouldn't be here having sex with Sasuke. Was he out of his mind?

"Ita…" he tried to speak right before the first thrust was put through his body.

In that instant Sasuke lost all focus on the area around him. The smell of the outdoor air, the gently breeze that was blowing across his face, his joints that were sore from their training sessions, he couldn't feel a thing. It no longer mattered.

Their eyes locked as Sasuke bucked his hips into all of Itachi's thrusts feeling the emotions that were surging through his body. Pain, sorrow, guilt, hate, joy, hope, Sasuke could sense all of those present in the beauty of the moment. He could sense all of those emotions, returning them as their hearts beat faster, Sasuke's arms moving to wrap around his brother's body pulling him into a kiss as they continued to grind up against each other.

"Sas…" he took a deep breath as he thrust harder, hitting Sasuke's prostate passionately, the young genin letting out small moans.

Sasuke swallowed hard as he closed his eyes tightly, his legs tightening around his brother's waist. Itachi could die when they went up against Kabuto. Itachi was fading as Sasuke touched him right now; this was going to be nothing more than a memory after the battle was over. This was all they were guaranteed.

The sensations that rolled through Sasuke's body weren't the same as they were all of the other times that they had done this; the pulsations of his brother's length didn't seem so hurried, so quick lasting. It was deeper, the feeling rolling through Sasuke's whole body as he continued to thrust into him, breath condensing on the genin's already moist skin.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, feeling his body starting to shake harder, his fingers moving to stroke his brother's cheek, pulling him into a tremulous kiss, both of their lips shuddering up against one another's. In the midst of the kiss, Itachi's hand moved down in between them to take hold of Sasuke's pulsing erection, squeezing lightly. Itachi kissed Sasuke harder as the both moaned, moving against each other passionately, their pulses almost beating at the same fast pace.

The pace of Itachi's hand was the same as the thrusts that he pushed through his brother, the same pace that his own heart was beating at. Everything seemed to be at the same tempo, everything accenting this moment. Itachi was doing exactly what Sasuke had asked him to do on a whim: he was _making love _to him.

"Itachi…" Sasuke swallowed hard as he felt his brother's grip on his erection tighten. "I-I…" he closed his eyes tightly trying to hold back his orgasm, trying to climax this early.

Yet the thrusts that were being sent through him, the hand that was wrapped around his arousal, the kisses that were being planted on his lips, he couldn't block out any of them, he couldn't pretend that they weren't happening. His muscles clenched around his brother's length as he swallowed hard letting out a loud moan.

"Sasuke…" Itachi breathed, moving to bite at Sasuke's neck lightly, sucking at the skin, hearing him moan loudly. "I love you," he ran his tongue along the throbbing pulse in Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke felt as the thrusts became desperate, Itachi's climax was coming soon. Sasuke's hand moved to weave his fingers through his brother's necklace, pulling him into a hiss, his own hips working erratically as to ease both him and his brother to their orgasms. This was the moment that they were waiting for and feared. This was going to mark the end of their lovemaking; this was going to mark one of the last times they could be like this.

Itachi moved to press his lips up against Sasuke's as he took a deep breath. "Sasuke…" he kissed him fiercely as his body shook up against Sasuke, the younger Uchiha's shuddering with orgasm at the same time. Their lips still touched even as the white hot warmth rolled through them, their bodies still up against one another's.

This was the last time that Sasuke thought they were going to do this. He thought that the heartbeat that he was getting lost in right now would soon stop, ceasing to exist. The heart that he had listed to every night in his dreams was being threatened throughout all of this. Sasuke wouldn't be able to lose him; he would never be able to keep going on if Sakura or Kabuto killed his brother. He would destroy them.

"Wow," Itachi breathed as he backed away from Sasuke's body, straightening himself out back to almost the same condition he was in before they started. "That was a good break from everything we've been working on," he licked his lips lightly. "I don't think I can continue to train you for a while. We're going to take a break."

"H-how can you be so articulate?" Sasuke asked breathlessly. "You just had sex… and it was really good," he looked into Itachi's eyes as he felt his hands stroke his cheek. "Itachi…"

The older Uchiha grasped Sasuke pants handing them to his half conscious brother. "You can take a break; you've been training all day. But after we're done resting we're going to work on the clone technique, it's the only one that you haven't gotten at a solid level," he kissed him on the lips as he backed away, Sasuke's hand taking the pants gently in his hands.

The tears that were rolling down Itachi's face were still there, the pain was still in his eyes. As Sasuke struggled to put his pants back on, he looked up at his brother who was walking away, looking at the crest that was on his back. He was different, that moment in the woods changing him into a new person. Sasuke didn't even know what was going on in his mind anymore. No matter how many times they kissed he would never know. Maybe it was better that way.

"I love you too…"

-----

"Are you going to be able to handle him?" Kakashi asked as he made his way to the doorway of Naruto's apartment. "There are people after him; do you think that you can handle them when they come for him?"

"I believe I can," the chuunin answered as he looked over at the jounin who was leaving the room. "I can handle Naruto better than anyone else, Kakashi, and I will protect him with my life."

Everything was silent until the jounin sighed. "Iruka, this is a life or death situation. If Naruto gets taken away there's no telling what will happen to him. Sakura's life is also at stake because of Naruto does get taken, Itachi will find out and he will kill her without a second thought."

"It's that serious?" Iruka asked as he leaned up against the wall. "It's so serious that if one person screws up we could lose a handful of genin? What exactly is going on in Konoha these days? Why is Naruto so damn important to them?"

"We don't know that," Kakashi answered as he held on tighter to his cane, trying to keep his balance. "But if we can get Kabuto Yakushi in our custody then we can understand what the purpose is…" he moved his hand to open the door.

Iruka shook his head. "If this gets to that point, Kakashi, what is the village going to do? How is the Hokage going to deal with a kidnapping?" he took a deep breath. "He hasn't exactly stopped this; he was too focused on Itachi to pay any attention to the _real _threat: Kabuto Yakushi."

There was another silence as the wind blew against the window. This was the wrong village to be in at the wrong time. Two men from highly dangerous backgrounds were using Konoha as a battlefield, both wanting to leave peacefully as long as the other one died. The village retaliated at Itachi, causing him injuries as Kabuto ran free causing more trouble for the village. Currently the question was, which one of them was causing more trouble? Kabuto or Itachi?

"I leave this to you," Kakashi breathed as he opened the door. "If anything happens, tell me and I'll try to help you as soon as possible. We're all in this together, remember that, Iruka. You aren't alone."

The jounin walked out of the door leaving a confused chuunin behind. Naruto was their goal, yet they only left someone of Iruka's level there. They should have left Gai or Kurenai to guard instead of him. He was a teacher at the Academy, he wasn't a warrior.

"So that's it then?" Naruto asked from the next room. "I sit here and I wait. Is that what I have to do? Is that the choice that you all have made for me? I just sit here and wait for either Itachi or Kabuto to walk through the door, and then I just let them kill me. Is that what I do now, Iruka-sensei?"

The chuunin sighed. "I know it's not fair but…"

"Not fair?" Naruto scoffed. "This is more than unfair, this is unjust. I'm human aren't I, Iruka-sensei? Aren't I human or am I just an animal that they can test on as much as they please?"

"Naruto…" Iruka hushed. "Please… calm down…"

"While I sit here waiting for my doom Kabuto is out there killing my teammates. All I can do is sit here and wait helplessly as I watch them die. That's all I can ever do is just watch or run. That's all I can do…" he sniffled as he held back the tears. "I can never do anything to save Sasuke or Sakura, all I can do is watch…" he moved to embrace Iruka starting to sob in his chest. "All I do is cause them more trouble, I'm nothing but annoying, nothing but an abomination."

The embrace was returned as Iruka held onto Naruto tighter, trying to fight the tears that were building up in his own eyes, his hands shaking up against his body. "You're not an abomination, I will never think of you as an abomination. I strongly believe that we will all make it through this, we're all going to come out of this alive and Konoha will be peaceful again…"

Naruto quickly backed away from the hug as he walked into another room. "Your dream is always going to be a dream, Iruka-sensei; nothing like that ever comes true. If ambitions were to come true, they wouldn't be dreams or goals, they'd be something greater than that. To achieve our dreams and goals we shouldn't have to go through this much pain. Team 7 was never going to achieve their dreams. It was all just a cruel joke to bring us down," a tear fell to the ground. "And it worked."

"Naruto…" Iruka breathed as he watched Naruto walk to the bedroom to collapse on the bed sobbing. _It's not fair what they put you through. You never asked to go through all of this torment. You never asked to be the nine-tailed fox's host. Now that you are, all they can see is the demon and that's all they'll ever see. And it's a damn shame that it has to be that way. _A tear rolled down his cheek as he turned around. "I'm sorry."

-----

Sasuke sat on the ground looking down at his feet. It had been a long day today. The training seemed almost grueling to the point where he thought that he could barely move. All day it had been hard work, Itachi almost ruthless in his training sessions. Sasuke never thought he could cover so much ground in a week.

The only gaps in the day were the long minutes where they were kissing each other, holding onto each other tightly, the time where Itachi hand laid Sasuke in the grass and took hold of his body and spirit. Sasuke almost blanked at that moment, but he knew what they had done, they had sex.

"Itachi?" Sasuke asked as he looked over at his brother who was putting on a pair of black leather gloves. "What exactly did we do in the grass back there?"

The older Uchiha seemed engrossed in his preparations. "I did what you wanted me to do: I _made love _to you."

Itachi was short and to the point when answering Sasuke's questions ever since after they recently had sex. It was like something had changed within him as he compulsively prepared for a mission that he wasn't even sure was going to come. He was too busy with weapons or alcohol to focus on Sasuke. It was like the invisible tears were real, covering up the heartache that was wrenching inside of him.

"So one more technique?" Sasuke asked, trying to grant his brother's attention.

Itachi looked back at him. "I did it because I wanted to feel you one last time before we went into combat," he sighed as he dropped his hands to his side. "I don't know if you or I are going to come back from this. We are in the critical era, Sasuke, the time where if I screw up… I could lose you forever…"

The younger Uchiha closed his eyes. "Itachi… I'm not going to die…"

"Don't give me that bullshit," Itachi curled his fists tighter, the creaking of leather filling Sasuke's ears. "You don't know if you're going to live, you don't know if I'm going to live, you don't know if Sakura is going to live. All you know is that we all have a chance of dying; this could be the end of everything that I've worked so hard for, everything that you've worked so hard for."

"We have a chance," Sasuke breathed, looking at his brother's fists. "We have the upper hand…"

"I don't want a repeat of last time," Itachi stated almost silently. "I don't want to see you in that much pain again, Sasuke, not because you wanted to take a fatal hit for me. We could be separated; it could be hours before either of us even knows that we died. This is dangerous, I'm not sure if you're ready…"

Sasuke curled his hands into fists. "Fuck you. Don't give me this you don't think I'm ready bullshit. You've trained me to be the best that I could be. I did everything that you said and surpassed your expectations. And you don't think I'm ready?"

"Sasuke…" Itachi started.

"I'm not the kid that I was before; you said that I had potential and that you wanted me to release that potential. If you cage me then everything you worked do hard for means crap," he moved to touch a gloved hand. "I'm going to make it out of there alive no matter what, Itachi. I'm not going to weigh you down anymore; I'm going to show you what I can really do. And you're going to love me…"

Itachi looked down at his younger brother with a smirk on his face. "Sasuke…" he stroked his cheek, watching him flinch at the feeling of the leather. "I guess this means that we have to keep working if you want to get anywhere. First off, you're going to have to watch out for that left hand, with all of the punching you're going to be doing; you're going to draw blood."

There was another silence as the wind passed through Sasuke's ears. Itachi tightened his left fist as his right hand moved to tuck another chain underneath his shirt. It had the ring attached to it. Sasuke's eyes moved to the hand that was tucking the ring away, Itachi no longer wore it on his finger; he was starting to realize that he wasn't their slave anymore. He was real.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed as he brushed the hair out of his face, fighting the wind. "This is the last jutsu that I need to master, right?"

"Yeah," Itachi nodded as he walked in front of him. "After you can grasp this, you will be able to be trusted on your own. If we are separated, I want to feel confident that you're going to be alright; otherwise I just threw you to the wolves. Also if the Akatsuki does get involved, I want you to run away from it. Don't try to save me; I'll last longer than you will."

Sasuke looked down at the ground as they continued to walk. "So this is going to be it, this was the moment that you've been waiting for. I have a question. After you're done with all of this, what happens to us? What happens to me after you're done beating Kabuto to a bloody pulp?"

Itachi was silent.

"Itachi!" Sasuke urged as they stopped in the middle of the woods.

"Why are you thinking so far ahead?" Itachi asked as he started to shake lightly. "Can't you tell that I don't want to let you go, I would never be able to no matter how I tried," he looked back at him. "Sasuke, you're the one who made me realize that maybe this whole time I didn't have to be a slave to my own black heart, that I could break free if I tried hard enough."

"The Akatsuki deserve anything that you can do to them," Sasuke sighed as they started walking again. "If I get my hands on one of those bastards they are as good as dead. No one treats my brother like shit and gets away with it."

Itachi smirked evilly. "You know, Sasuke," he looked over at him. "This is going to be the first time that anyone will allow you to work by yourself in combat. I know that you went on the mission to the Land of Waves, but you had people to help you back then. This time I could be too occupied to help you, and there will be no Naruto or Sakura…"

"I can do it," Sasuke breathed. "I'm going to get recognized by you. I'm powerful, Itachi…"

"I know you have power, but can you use it?" Itachi continued. "Potential is a crazy thing, if you can't use it then all of your hard work would be a waste. I don't want that for you. I don't want you to be another waste…"

Sasuke sighed as the reached the same clearing that Itachi had brought him to earlier. This was where it all started; this was where Kabuto had attacked them for the first time, revealing his identity to Itachi. Was this going to be another repeat? Was Itachi going to leave him alone to get into more trouble?

"Are you going to leave?" Sasuke asked, glancing back at his brother.

Itachi shook his head as he smiled lightly. "I want to see what you keep doing wrong," he leaned up against one of the remaining trees. "You should have gotten it down by now. It's not really all that difficult. Create a clone; focus your chakra into it, and then release."

Sasuke thought about all of the techniques that his brother had mastered so easily. After Mystical Palms, the Poison Extraction technique seemed like child's play. All he had to do was pick up a book and memorize what to do in almost an instant. If Itachi didn't have a sharingan, none of this would have been possible.

The wind blew strong up against Sasuke's face as he quickly made a clone. He could sense the smile on Itachi's face even in the first steps of this process. He remembered Itachi's words as he walked away from the clone. Focus and release, focus and release, it was easier said than done. Yet he had to do it right this time, this was the moment to really make Itachi proud of him. This was the technique that they had made that bet on weeks ago, the bet that Sasuke had failed to do. This time was different; he wasn't going to be contrary to his brother anymore. He was going to do what he said.

As he was out of the blast zone, he watched as Itachi backed away as well. This was the moment for him to show that he had improved; otherwise Itachi would laugh at him again. He never thought he would have seen a person like Itachi Uchiha actually break down and laugh at someone's mistakes. He was so cruel, but the cruelty was enough to make Sasuke work harder, to watch him look like an idiot.

_Focus and release, _he closed his eyes tightly as he quickly focused chakra into the clone. _Release! _As he thought that word the clone exploded, the blaze reflecting in Itachi's red eyes, his jaw dropping slightly. Sasuke had gotten the technique right on his first try; usually it took him at least five times to even get it half right.

"What the…?" Itachi stared wide eyed as he staggered closer to the site, falling to his knees as he got to the center of the field. "S-Sasuke… you…" he looked up at his younger brother. "Y-you…"

"At a loss for words?" Sasuke asked as he walked closer to Itachi, watching him shake lightly. "I did your damn technique…"

"Y-you…" Itachi looked up at him. "Y-you… how?"

"Did you think I was never going to do it?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"I _knew_ you wouldn't be able to," Itachi continued. "That technique is not for genin. How did you even do it…?"

Sasuke moved to stroke his brother's face. "I had a talented tutor."

They took each other's lips in a light kiss as Sasuke's arms wrapped around his brother's shaking body. They were ready to go into battle. Kabuto and Sakura were going to both pay for all that they had done. The outcome was obvious; the Uchihas had the upper hand.

_Sakura, _Sasuke kissed lightly at his brother's neck, pulling at the necklace with his teeth. _You're mine…_

-----

The door swung open, Sakura gasping in shock as Kabuto ran in to grab the senbon that were laced with the new poison, shoving them all into his pouch. She watched as his hands trembled lightly with delight, a devious smile on his face as he looked back at her.

"Gather your weapons, Sakura," Kabuto snickered as he grasped a few poison laced kunai, placing them in his pouch along with the senbon.

She raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is going on? Why are we packing our things, Kabuto?" she reached to place all of her senbon in her pouch, watching as he master started to walk toward the door. "Kabuto?"

There was a long silence as Kabuto stood in the doorway, looking back at her as he tied on his Sound forehead protector tighter. Sakura's pulse raced as she realized what was going on. Throughout all of her studies under him she never thought this day was going to come so soon. There would be outside interference. Could they handle both Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha?

"We're starting out journey to the Sound Village," he started to walk through the door. "Come Sakura, we don't have much time. The Uchihas will sense our movement in no time at all. They'll come for us."

She looked at the window right before he stood up. She was going to have to fight Sasuke, a person who was on her team, a person that she loved. As much as she tried to tell herself that she couldn't love him anymore, the more she knew that she always would. She couldn't look around what he had done. It wasn't that he was in love with someone else. It wasn't that he was in love with a man. It wasn't that he was in love with his brother. It was because he was trying to cover it up. It was because he was in love with a person that he preached about hating, a person who almost killed two jounin, a person who was trying to kill Naruto. It wasn't jealousy that drove her to Kabuto, it was the disgust that she had toward both Itachi and Sasuke. Their plan to kill Naruto was sick. She had to stop them.

"I'm coming," she answered as she moved toward the door. She remembered Sasuke's lips on hers, Itachi's lips on her hand, were they really trying to hurt her? No matter how she tried, she just couldn't see it from their point of view. That night by the river, was that a lie too? Was it even rape? Or was it just the grand introduction to Itachi's plot? She couldn't even think about what was going on in the past months, it made her sick just to visualize it.

"So," Kabuto started as they closed the door behind them. "I thought that we would go pick up Naruto," he looked at Sakura. "Are you alright with that?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah."

She was still thinking about the Uchiha brothers, she thought she could trust both of them, but they were just playing her. To think that she actually helped to teach Itachi medical ninjutsu, she was an idiot. She trusted Itachi; she didn't want to believe that he raped Sasuke, now she couldn't believe it. There was no way that he could rape someone and then have love as a response. Was it rape or just really violent sex?

"Do you have any problems with hurting either of the Uchiha brothers?" Kabuto asked as they moved to the stairs, his dark eyes looking straight into her green ones. "Sasuke or Itachi?"

"No," she closed her eyes tightly as she curled her hand into a tight fist. "I have no problems whatsoever."

-----

Iruka watched as Naruto continued to sob on the bed; it had been almost an hour since Kakashi left the apartment. It was quiet outside of the apartment, too quiet for the chuunin's liking. Anyone could break in here at any time, there was nothing stopping them from entering the apartment. Iruka wouldn't be able to handle Itachi if it was him, he couldn't handle Kabuto Yakushi either.

_Why did the leave me in charge? _He asked himself as he held onto a kunai, his hand shaking lightly. He never thought that he would have to get involved in all of the uproar about Itachi Uchiha and Kabuto Yakushi. He thought that his job was to protect the students in case one of the two antagonists decided to try to take hostages; he never thought he would be protecting the goal of both missions. He never found himself to be a person who they would leave such a valuable person in the hands of.

Every time the wind blew he would jump up to see if some one was at the door. His breath was speeding up as he continued to look at the door. This wasn't supposed to be happening to him. He wasn't even involved in this case when it was just Itachi that they were worried about. Now there were two people who could eventually kill Naruto as well as him.

Suddenly he heard the sound draw closer, someone was coming toward the door, his hand tightening around the kunai as he looked back at Naruto who had cried so hard that he was now unconscious. He wasn't going to let anyone take him from Konoha. Iruka would die before he let Naruto go.

The door started to open as Iruka's body started to heat up, his heart racing in his chest. _Come on, who is it? Itachi or Kabuto?_

"It's locked," a voice called out, it was clearly male. "Can you open it…?" Iruka waited patiently for the accomplice's name: Sasuke or Sakura. His eyes widened in shock as he heard who it was. "… Sakura?"

"Shit," Iruka whispered as he backed away from the door, watching it fall down, hitting the ground with a large thud. He looked up to see one of his best students in the class standing in the doorway next to Kabuto Yakushi, a blank expression on her face. "S-Sakura…"

The two of them walked into the apartment, looking down at the chuunin. "Sakura? Do you know who this is?" Kabuto asked with a devious smile on his face. "You seem to have knowledge of Konoha ninja."

Sakura looked down at him, her eyes never showing any emotion. "Iruka Umino, a Konoha chuunin, he teaches children at the Academy how to be ninja. He's not threat to us," she moved to sit next to her old teacher. "We don't want to hurt you, Iruka-sensei, just give us Naruto and we'll leave you be."

The chuunin looked up at the Sound forehead protector that was on Sakura. "So you're with him now Sakura? I thought you were better than this."

"Give the same speech to Sasuke," she continued as she pulled out a single senbon. "He's the one who went off with Itachi Uchiha. We aren't here to kill anyone; we're here to save Naruto by taking him Lord Orochimaru…"

Iruka's eyes widened. "Orochimaru?"

"Yes," Sakura continued as she looked into her old sensei's eyes. "What about him? Do you know something about Orochimaru?" she could feel Kabuto's dark eyes widening as she asked that question. "Do you know of him?"

"Who doesn't?" Iruka hissed. "That pervert killed his own men experimenting on them to gain immortality. His dream is to gain control of every jutsu, to do that he's been jumping from body to body. He doesn't want you, Sakura, he wants Sasuke," he moved to hold her hand. "Get out of here while you still can…"

"Iruka-sensei?" a voice asked from the other room. The chuunin looked over to see Naruto starting to get out of bed, his heart stopping in his chest, his grip tightening on Sakura's hand.

"Naruto! Stay back! Run away!" Iruka shouted as he looked back at Sakura. "Get out of here, Sakura. Kabuto only wants to do one thing with you, Naruto, and Sasuke. He wants to bring you to the Sound Village to kill you! Orochimaru is going to…!"

Right before he could finish his sentence, Kabuto drove a kunai into his stomach, blood rolling down his lips as he coughed once, his eyes clouding with the pain. He could hear both Naruto and Sakura cry out as he was starting to lose sight of everything that was around him.

"N-Naruto…" he coughed again more blood rolling past his lips. "Run!" his voice broke as he fell face down into Sakura's lap, the girl squealing in shock as she looked up at Kabuto, her eyes watering.

"Why?" she asked as she felt the chuunin start to bleed on her. "Why?"

Kabuto kept a blank look on his face. "Because he isn't going to help you in your quest to Orochimaru and freedom, he only wanted to bring you down, Sakura. So I wounded him. He's going to die; the kunai that I used was laced with my poison. He'll be dead sooner than you think."

She looked back at Naruto. "But will Naruto be safe?"

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, walking to her. "What the hell are you doing with this guy? We've all been worried about you. I'm glad to see that you're back," he tried to hide the tears that were I his eyes as he heard Iruka starting to choke. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"To set you free," Sakura answered lightly as she extended her hand. "Come with me, please Naruto."

Naruto looked down at Iruka, his eyes growing suddenly stronger as he looked his old comrade in the eyes, his hand curling into a fist. "Fuck you!" he drove the fist into Sakura's face watching the blood start to roll from her nose, he body falling flat on her back. "I don't give a damn about your Orochimaru, nor do I give a damn about Kabuto Yakushi or Itachi Uchiha. You make me sick, Sakura… you make me sick…"

Sakura tried to reach hand out to grasp Naruto right before the two senbon hit him in the neck, his breathing almost stopping right there. The look in his blue eyes as the poison started to flow through him. Her own breathing stopped as he fell to his knees, his body starting to shake lightly as he vomited a small amount.

"Kabuto?" Sakura asked, looking back at her new master. "What are you doing? What was that for?"

"We have to save him, Sakura, whether he wants to go willingly or not. The poison won't hurt him because of the power of the fox," he moved to pick the young boy up off of the ground. "We have to go quickly; no doubt the Uchiha brothers could sense that. Itachi has a knack for having knowledge on events that are going on."

Sakura looked down at Naruto who was in Kabuto's arms, he hands moving to stroke lightly at his face. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she moved to kiss lightly at his lips feeling small amounts of breath seeping through the small opening between them. This isn't what she wanted this to go like. Was Iruka right about Orochimaru and the Sound Village?

"_Get out of here, Sakura. Kabuto only wants to do one thing with you, Naruto, and Sasuke. He wants to bring you to the Sound Village to kill you! Orochimaru is going to…!"_

She bit at her lips gently as she tried to stay focused. This was what she wanted, no matter how it turned out as of now; she had to remember that she chose it to be like this. She could have chosen a different path. She chose freedom, Naruto chose to be a slave, and Sasuke chose to be imprisoned in his own home.

"Let's get going," Kabuto answered lightly as he walked out of the door. "We're starting to fall behind schedule. It'll take a few days to get to the Sound Village. In order to get there before Itachi and Sasuke catch up, we'll have to leave now," he looked back at Sakura who was looking down at the dying chuunin. "Are you ready?"

She nodded shakily as she looked away from Iruka. "Yeah," she whimpered. "I'm ready."

She walked toward the doorway where she had knocked the door down, thinking about all that she had done. No one was supposed to get hurt, yet she ran a dagger through Sasuke's chest and watched as Iruka and Naruto were poisoned. Was this the right choice? Or was she making a mistake? A tear rolled down here eyes as she walked alongside Kabuto who was holding Naruto bridal style.

_I was right, wasn't I? _She shook her head, trying to fight the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. _Wasn't I?_

She walked into the darkness, her heart sinking with every single step. What had she done to the place that she called home? What had she done?

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that this chapter was a little upsetting seeing as Sakura and Kabuto actually got Naruto, and Naruto and Iruka have been poisoned. It looks like they're going to win this so far, and that's going to upset people, I can't tell you if the tables are going to turn. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that Kabuto and Sakura need a HUGE ass-whooping? Honesty is always good and is my policy. 


	37. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything that pertains to the anime/manga _Naruto_.

**Warnings: **This chapter contains blood/violence, references to sexual situations and rape, coarse language, incest, yaoi, a dash of yuri, thoughts of homicide, OOC, and the canon is not really huge factor. There are also a lot of errors in here that I didn't catch while editting it, but it is shorter than the last few. This begins the final arc (for real now).

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, slight SasuSaku and ItaSaku, some KabuSaku, references to NaruSaku and SasuNaru, traces of KakaIta and GaiKaka, dash of SasuIno and InoSaku

* * *

Itachi looked out the window as he heard the rain start to fall. Something was wrong, he knew it as his heart started to speed up, holding Sasuke closer to his body. He never got feelings this strong, not since the night when Shisui asked him to meet him by the river. Everything on his body was starting to shake as he ran a hand through his brother's dark hair. 

Sasuke started to stir; the first thing that he noticed as he woke up was the acceleration of his brother's heart rate, his hands shaking up against him. He looked out at the rain in the same direction that his brother was. He saw nothing, nothing but the dark clouds that were covering the night sky.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked as he moved to sit up, the sheets rustling underneath him, as he let out a small breath. "Itachi?" he watched as his brother started to get dressed again. "Itachi, where the hell are you going?"

"Something's wrong," Itachi answered as he grasped the belt that had his sais. "I can sense it…"

Sasuke moved up against the pillows. "So you're psychic now? Itachi, you've been acting strange lately. For all you know this could just be your mind playing tricks on you. It's raining out, you should stay inside."

The older Uchiha grasped a small bottle of alcohol, placing it in his pouch. "I'm not crazy, Sasuke. Something's wrong. I think that Kabuto might have gotten the fox. I can feel myself starting to lose this."

The genin yawned. "You had a bad dream."

"I couldn't get to sleep," Itachi argued.

"You spaced out, Itachi," Sasuke breathed, snuggling deeper into the pillows, closing his eyes as he tried to fall back asleep. "You were daydreaming. You think that you're going to lose because you keep telling yourself that. Thought you were the one who liked to talk about psychology."

The older Uchiha grasped the katana, taking a deep breath. "Sasuke, if he does have the fox that means that you will never see your best friend alive again, and Sakura will become the next host for Orochimaru. Do you want that for your friends to go through that much pain?"

Sasuke looked over at the rain that was hitting the window. "Itachi, this is too early to think that anything is going to happen…"

"Kabuto wants us to have that mentalitly," Itachi breathed as he glanced over at Sasuke who was moving deeper into the sheets and pillows. "Sasuke, this is life or death… you could lose your friends…"

"Or I could lose you," the genin continued as he grasped his brother's hand. "I've come too far to lose you, Itachi. You abandoned me once, I'll be damned if I let you do it to me again," he kissed him lightly on the arm. "Itachi…"

Itachi sighed as he closed his eyes. "If we go now, I want to know… are you with me, Sasuke?"

The genin swallowed hard as he closed his own eyes, shaking his head in thought, his fingers tightened as he tried to take in that this was going to be the end of everything. His fingernails were digging into Itachi's skin as he struggled to say the words.

"If we die, brother," he grabbed moved to pick his clothes off of the ground. "Then we'll die together…"

Sasuke moved out of bed to gather his clothes starting to get dressed as well, both of them continued to get ready for the fight that would define all that they had done, grasping weapons and straightening out clothes. The younger brother's hands were shaking as he grasped the dagger that was on the nightstand, his eyes starting to water as he took one more look at his brother.

"Itachi," he whimpered. "I don't want to lose you…"

"You won't," Itachi answered as he looked back at his brother, watching the tears start to fall. "Hey, don't cry," he moved his fingers to wipe the water that was dripping down his cheeks. "It's going to be alright, we're both going to get out of this alive, and then we can finally be together. That's what I always wanted; I wanted to be with you," he kissed his lips lightly. "I love you… don't forget that…"

Itachi grasped the dagger, sliding it into its holster, his eyes never breaking from Sasuke's as he did so. Both of them were shaking as they tried to put off the fact that they were about to run to their death. They were scared that everything that they had done was going to be nothing more than a waste. They were going to be failures again, this time it would confirm it.

"Let's go," Itachi announced as he started walking toward the door.

Sasuke shakily walked after his brother remembering his teammates. They thought they would always be together, that they were going to be Team 7 forever, but it was short lived, that could never be the truth now. They had split up, walking three different roads. Now they were all starting to intersect, but who was going to make it out of the storm alive?

"Okay," he answered lightly as he started walking toward the door. _This is the moment I've been waiting for, time to show Itachi what I can really do. No more games, time to start acting like a ninja._

-----

Kabuto and Sakura sat underneath a tree trying to wait a little while for the storm to clear up, Naruto still in Kabuto's arms, his body shaking from the amount poison that was within his body, attacking his cells. He had vomited twice causing them to stop. Kabuto had been doing everything in his power to make sure Naruto didn't die, it was like he mattered more to him than Sakura thought.

It made her hurt as she saw him shake; his cries were going to haunt her in her sleep for weeks. Kabuto had told her that this was completely safe, that the fox was going to save him. The question was if the fox was even helping him through this process. Maybe this poison was blocking his use of chakra including any abilities that the nine-tails might have been giving him.

"How much longer are we going to be sitting here?" Sakura asked as she looked at Naruto who was still shaking. "I mean, what if Itachi and Sasuke catch up with us because we were being too slow?"

"Itachi will never catch up," Kabuto breathed as he looked off into the rainy distance shaking his head. "Not in this storm. I don't buy the fact that he's made a full recovery. Sasuke Uchiha would never be able to heal his brother's lungs."

"Sasuke can use medical ninjutsu?" Sakura asked her eyes wide in shock. "You mean that Itachi taught him how to…"

"Apparently, Sasuke healed Itachi's wounds when he was an inch from death. I don't believe that's the case. Itachi still has scars within his respiratory system that he will never be able to heal. He experimented on himself with medical ninjutsu making the scars that he received from Sasuke's blow worse, combine that with the poison that I put in his blood stream and it's an instant fatal reaction. Itachi was supposed to die from it."

"You tried to kill him like that?" Sakura asked as she looked at Naruto who was still shaking violently. "What kind of monster are you? What kind of person would want someone to suffer like that? Itachi had never done anything to you before all of this, had he? If that is the case, then you're even more of a jerk than I thought."

"People deserve to be punished when they've committed a crime, Sakura," Kabuto continued as he looked over at Sakura. "You thought that didn't you? Didn't you see the look in his eyes all of the times he talked to you? Didn't you hear the way that he talked about Sasuke, the way Sasuke talked about him? Or did you forget everything?"

"_If only I could just go to him and say that I'm sorry. I can't though, would you forgive someone if they killed your family, everyone who was precious to you. I don't want him to forgive me; I don't even want him to acknowledge me. If I walk through life alone then so be it. It's better that way."_

Sakura closed her eyes as she remembered Itachi; he seemed like such a lonely person, heartbroken and lost. Why was she on Itachi's side and then the second that Kabuto showed up she went with him? She was scared for Sasuke's life; she was scared that Itachi was going to kill him. She was scared that Sasuke was going to love him. Now she realized that she had made a mistake. She knew that the second that the dagger went through Sasuke's chest. She was an idiot.

Now as she looked down at Naruto all she could see were more mistakes, another reason for her wanting to give up. She didn't know who to trust anymore, she thought that Kabuto was telling the truth. Lord Orochimaru was going to save them all, wasn't he? Or was that a lie?

"_Get out of here, Sakura. Kabuto only wants to do one thing with you, Naruto, and Sasuke, he wants to bring you to the Sound Village to kill you! Orochimaru is going to…!"_

Sakura felt tears form along with the rain as she looked down at Naruto. All she could do was believe that this was the right thing for her to be doing. She was going to save her teammates from Itachi, no matter how his words tried to sway her.

"_Fuck you! I don't give a damn about your Orochimaru, nor do I give a damn about Kabuto Yakushi or Itachi Uchiha. You make me sick, Sakura… you make me sick…"_

She felt her nose as she closed her eyes, feeling Iruka's blood still on her clothes. There was no way that she could be freed from this Hell. She thought that she was the smart one while Sasuke was the fool for going with Itachi. It was she who was the fool; she was the one who should have opened her eyes to see what was really going on. She was blinded by anger for her fallen sensei, now it was too late to turn back. She had chosen her path and Sasuke had chosen his.

"Kabuto," Sakura asked. "Who is Orochimaru really?"

"I told you, he's going to save you…" the older ninja answered.

"I want to know what his intentions are with me, Kabuto. What is he going to do to me and Naruto when we get there? I still don't trust him. How do I know that everything that people have been saying isn't true?"

Kabuto looked over at her. "Because I'm the only person who hasn't bent for Itachi, I'm the only one who still sees the same as you. I'm the only one who knows what you're going through, Sakura. I'm the only one who knows that agony that Itachi has been giving you. I'm the only one who knows that you want to kill him."

"I'm not sure if I do," Sakura answered lightly as she looked, shaking her head. "This is a lot to take in; there isn't much that I can say about this feeling. I don't know if I want him dead or if I want him alive. It's all so hard."

"Only because you're making it hard. Screw what everyone else is saying and stay with this," Kabuto answered spitefully. "You already started to adhere to it, now follow through and bring this damn fox to the Sound Village."

Sakura closed her eyes as she took in Kabuto's words. What had she done?

-----

"This is crazy!" Sasuke panted as he continued to run after his brother. "You're a wanted criminal and you're running through the village when you think Naruto's been taken. If he was taken, they'll arrest you."

Itachi continued to run, struggling to catch his breath, his lungs still sore from his injuries. "If I had taken the fox I would have been long gone by now and you'd be in the bottom of the Nakano River with a slit throat."

Sasuke almost tripped as he heard the words. "You were going to slit my throat?"

"I'm trying to keep their point of view," Itachi slowed down as he started to pant harder. "I'm dangerous you know. If you get too close to me, you could lose your life," he looked off into the distance. "There it is… Naruto's apartment…"

The younger Uchiha ran to his brother's side. "You're in no condition to fight. Your lungs are still too scarred… you can barely breathe."

"I'll be fine," Itachi desperately tried to catch his breath. "If I must die I'll die when I know that man won't win this fight. I've suffered so much for that one wish," he started to walk forward. "We'll see if I was right…"

"You aren't psychic," Sasuke breathed. "You drank too much and you've become paranoid. It's a lack of oxygen to your brain, you are having trouble breathing," he followed his brother to the stairs that led up to the apartment. "Itachi!"

They slowly walked up the stairs feeling the rain fall harder. Sasuke was hoping that his brother was wrong. As soon as they opened the door Naruto would be there unharmed. He knew that his brother had been right about all of the other times, but he wasn't psychic, he was just lucky. As they walked all the way up the stairs, Sasuke knew that wasn't the case. The door that he had knocked on so many times was now pushed flat onto the ground, leaving the room open.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke asked as he took a step in front of his brother. "Naruto!" he continued to run through the doorway looking throughout the apartment, listening to leather starting to creak as his brother's hands tightened into fists. "Naruto! Naruto, where are you?" he fell to his knees. "Naruto!" his voice suddenly became quiet. "Naruto…"

Itachi walked in after his brother. "Sasuke," he moved closer. "I'm sorry…" he placed a gloved hand on his brother's shoulder. "I promise you, we're going to find him, Sasuke. We'll find him…"

The rain hit the window harder as Sasuke's body started to shake. "Sakura did this… didn't she?" he looked up into his brother's crimson eyes. "She took Naruto away to help that bastard out, didn't she? Didn't she, Itachi?"

"We'll get him back," Itachi repeated, his hand tightening on the genin's shoulder. "I won't let you down anymore. I promise that he's going to come back to you. I promise that Kabuto won't make his way to the Sound Village with him. You have to trust me, Sasuke."

As Sasuke was about to open his mouth to speak, all he could hear was a small moan filling the room. He looked from side to side, noticing blood rolling across the floor. It was fresh. This had happened only a few moments ago. Someone was in here. He looked in the corner to see a body, a familiar face.

"Iruka?" Sasuke asked, crawling over to his Academy teacher's side. "Iruka, is that you?" he looked at the deep wound that was in the chuunin's stomach, it was a kunai. "What the hell happened?" he touched the blood gently as he looked back at his brother. "Itachi… we have a witness, but he's hurt…"

Itachi moved to the side of Iruka's body, taking his gloves off as he felt his moist forehead, feeling the amount of sweat that was being produced. His breathing was jagged, almost like his lungs were filled with sharp blades, his pulse racing. It was all clear now what had happened. Kabuto had been here, he had done this.

"He's been poisoned," Itachi breathed hurriedly. "Get me a few bowls of water and hurry!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he looked at his brother. "Itachi?"

"Sasuke," Itachi panted as he pressed his hands up against the wound. "The poison has been flowing through his body for too long, his heart is starting to get an irregular rhythm. Any longer and he'll die."

_Itachi actually cares? _Sasuke stood up and ran to the sink, starting to fill a few bowls with water. He looked over to see his brother started to use Mystical Palms on Iruka's wound. He was determined to get as much information as possible as well as save a life. Sasuke had never seen his brother like this, so determined to save the life of someone that he didn't even know. All of this time he was so sure that his brother was going to use the techniques he had learned for something more than just an augmentation of attacks. This wasn't his brother.

"I got the water," Sasuke brought two bowls to his brother's side along with a towel, wiping the sweat away from his forehead. "Itachi, do you need some help?"

"No Sasuke," Itachi breathed as the wound closed. "I want you to conserve all of the chakra that you have. You're going to need it when we go after them," he closed his eyes as he backed away from the wound, taking a deep breath. "Now to remove the poison, I've stopped the bleeding…"

Sasuke looked at his brother, a smile on his face as he watched him start to dip his hand into the water. They were wasting time, but the way that Itachi wanted to save one Konoha ninja from the wrath of Kabuto made Sasuke cry out in glee. This wasn't the Itachi that he had known before he had come back. For once he was glad that Itachi had come back. It put all of the nightmares to rest.

He continued to watch Itachi as he pulled the poison out of Iruka's body the same way that he had done in the apartment not too long ago. He was becoming more familiar with all of Kabuto's poisons, almost instantly neutralizing them as he looked at the make up. Itachi was starting to show some progress.

"Got it," Itachi breathed as he moved to orb to the bowl, allowing the liquid to fall back into the bowl. "I think one more should do it, then I'll find the anti-venom and we'll be able to find out exactly what was going on here while we were at home. We'll know how far away Kabuto has gotten."

Sasuke watched as another orb was created in his brother's hand from the bowl of water. _I will find you Naruto, and I'll bring both you and Sakura back to Konoha. Then we can be a team again and forget that all of this happened. We could be happy for one more moment._

-----

Kakashi sat up in the bed as he tried to catch his breath. There was something wrong. He could see it all so clearly, but it wasn't the usual vision. It wasn't the one where the two of them were kissing or the other various ones where he had seen them have sex. It was different. It was of a Sasuke on the ground, blood running from his eyes as Itachi sat at his side, tears rolling down his cheeks, the tears that he had seen four years ago. He could still feel the tear on his fingers, the warmth of his body so close to his. He could still see the pain in his eyes. It was all reflected over Sasuke's dying body. It broke his heart.

"Itachi," he breathed as he remembered the young boy that he had been acquainted with. He was different now; he was the one who killed the Uchiha Clan the one who would never forgive him. It hurt just to be around him these days, to see him smile to know that he would never be able to do that to him. The thoughts would plague him until the day he died.

"Kakashi?" Gai asked as he walked through the door to see what was wrong with his comrade. "What the hell is going on in here? Are you alright?"

The younger jounin nodded. "Yeah, I think so…"

"Another nightmare?" Gai asked as he moved to sit next to him on the bed. "What was it this time?"

"Itachi," Kakashi stated quietly.

"Don't think about him," Gai soothed as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "He's going to kill you from the inside out; he's no good for you. You should try to get some rest; otherwise I'm going to have to get you some help."

"Maybe if I talked to him…" Kakashi closed his eye. "I had a vision, he was crying, Gai…"

"What happened?" Gai actually seemed interested in what Kakashi had to say about Itachi. It was something Kakashi had never heard from him before. Usually every time the name was mentioned, he tried to get off of the subject, trying to make it all seem like it was a little less important. It was crucial now.

"I don't know, Gai," Kakashi shook his head. "I never wanted to see him go through pain because of me. I never wanted him to hate me as much as he does. It seems as though every time we're together, all he wants is for me to die."

A hand ran along Kakashi's back. "We'll see what's going on in the morning. It's the storm that's making you act like this; you're not really seeing anything. You're tired; you've been through a lot. You just need to relax."

Kakashi moved back into the pillows as he tried to shake the thought of his dying student and those damn tears rolling down Itachi's cheeks. There was nothing that could block it out. What he wouldn't give to wipe those tears from his eyes, that he could hold him until the tears ceased. He couldn't do that anymore. That dream had died; he had killed it the day that he made him cry.

"You're going to be alright," Gai whispered as he continued to stroke his friend's back. "You're going to be alright, Kakashi."

If only he could be alright, knowing that all of the pain that he had tried to forget causing was haunting Itachi every time the name Kakashi was brought up. If only he could take it all back just to see Itachi be whole again. Putting aside the bruises, the condescending words from Shisui, and the pressure from the clan, he wished that he could have been the one to be his savior during that dark time. He was his destroyer.

_There will be a time where I will smile again; you will no longer be in the darkness. _He closed his eyes as he clutched the sheets tighter trying to hide that he was in pain. "Itachi," he whispered almost silently. "I'm sorry…"

-----

The last orb fell into the bowl; all of the poison had been removed from his body. Itachi took a series of deep breaths as Sasuke wiped his forehead with the towel kissing lightly at his cheek as he smiled gently.

"You did it," Sasuke breathed. "That's the last of it…"

Itachi nodded shakily as he tried to catch his breath. "I guess I did, but I still need to find the cure before the trace amounts of poison kill him. We need the information about Naruto that he has, but he's of no use to use if he's dead."

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as Itachi extracted a small sample of the poison from the bowl, his whole body shaking. "Itachi?" he looked over to see his brother looking into his eyes. "I didn't want this to happen…" the genin shook his head. "I didn't want my teammates to get into this, especially not Sakura…"

"You love her don't you?" Itachi asked as he looked back at the poison. "It's alright if you do, I mean you have been with her for a while…"

"I love _you_," Sasuke sighed as he watched Itachi add a few vials of liquid to the poison. "I just didn't want them to die throughout all of this. I thought that if I tried harder, none of this would have happened. It did anyway, no matter how strong I got…"

Itachi shook his head. "Strength doesn't guarantee that all of your problems will be solved. It doesn't guarantee that the pain that you feel will just disappear; nothing can say that for certain. You sought power as a way to solve your problems thinking that killing me would make it all go away. If you did kill me, would it bring the clan back? No, it would have taken something else from you, something that you didn't even know was important to you until you knew it was going to be gone."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he looked over at his brother. "Itachi…" he watched as more sweat rolled down his forehead, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the poison. "I was confused…"

"I haven't been the best older brother to you," Itachi sighed. "I know that, there are many things that I shouldn't have done for you. I know that you always hated me for it. I don't blame you," he muttered a silent curse as he continued to look at the poison. "But now isn't the time for self pity…"

Sasuke watched as Iruka was breathing heavily, his body shaking as he attempted every inhalation. He was trying his hardest to protect Naruto when no one else would. It wasn't fair that this happened to him. He was trying to protect something that was precious to him, just as Sasuke was doing for Itachi. Why was it that the ones who were trying to do good deeds were the ones who were getting hurt?

Itachi quickly mixed the potion together as he looked over at Sasuke. "You know this man, right? Can you get him to wake up?"

Sasuke nodded as he moved his hand to Iruka's shoulder. "Iruka? Iruka, wake up…" he shook him violently, hearing him start to cough. "Iruka, it's Sasuke… Sasuke Uchiha. You remember me, right? Naruto's friend…"

"S-Sasuke…" Iruka opened his eyes to look into Sasuke's dark irises. "Is that you? Where have you been?"

Before Sasuke could say anything the sound of leather filled the room as Itachi adjusted his gloves, the chuunin looking over in the corner, fear coming to his eyes. He could recognize who Itachi was almost instantly. He took a deep breath as he tried to see if he was real.

"Itachi? Is that you?" Iruka asked his voice shaking.

"Try not to move, I wasn't able to remove all of the poison, there are still traces in your bloodstream," he touched the bowl that held the antidote. "Iruka, drink this and you're going to be alright."

"Where's Naruto?" Iruka asked, his voice still shaking, looking at different angles of the room. "Sasuke? Where did Sakura take him?"

"Sakura was here?" Sasuke asked. "How long ago?"

"An hour or so," Iruka answered gently as he looked over at Itachi. "You saved my life, even though you didn't have to. Why, Itachi? What's going on? What are they going to do to Naruto?"

Itachi shook his head as he answered bluntly. "They're going to bring him to his death, if we don't stop him. We can still stop him if we leave now, Sasuke. We're going to have to work quickly though."

Sasuke closed his eyes as he thought about what was going on. Itachi and Sasuke would never be able to stop Sakura on their own, not without killing her. There had to be a way that he could reach the village, a way that they could still help him before it was too late. Team 7 had given up so much; it was about time that another team had come to their rescue.

"I can't go with you…" Sasuke breathed as he looked into his brother's eyes, his hands shaking. "I have something to do here first. You go ahead, you can stop them, I'll catch up," he closed his eyes. "Itachi… please, don't be stupid; don't die on me… come back to me in one piece."

Itachi moved to stroke his brother's cheek, his own hands shaking as he closed his eyes tightly. "I have faith in you, Sasuke. Do you have faith in me? If you do then you know that I wouldn't die on you during this. I've come too far to give it all up now. If it's a fight that Kabuto and Sakura want, it's a fight that they're going to get."

Sasuke's body shook as his hands clenched into fists. "I don't want you to die, Itachi," he looked up to see Itachi smile gently, a small laugh passing his lips. Sasuke smiled back as he kissed him lightly on the cheek, a single tear falling down his cheek. "I love you…"

"I love you too…" Itachi breathed, kissing Sasuke gently on the lips. He then started to run out the door leaving Sasuke behind, the genin falling to his knees as he wrapped his arms around himself.

Tears fell from his eyes like pouring rain, sobs escaping his lips as he clung on tighter to himself. Itachi was gone. This could be the last time that he ever saw him. He thought of all of the moments that they had together from the first kiss to the rape, from the betrayal to the last time that they made love. He would give anything just to experience it all again, give anything just to feel him hold him close to his body.

"Itachi," he breathed as he buried his face in his hands, imagining what was going to happen to him out there. Itachi could die. Was he satisfied with all that they had done? Was he satisfied that this was their goodbye? No, it wasn't their goodbye, this was the marker for their new beginning, whether it brought sorrow or not.

-----

Itachi moved quickly to the woods, his fists tight as he thought of what was going on in that apartment. The torment that the school teacher had gone through was enough to make his blood boil with anger. Iruka Umino had done absolutely nothing to them; he was only punished for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

_Kabuto, you've gone too far now! This has gone on for long enough, if you wanted to lure me there then why didn't you just come to me. _He ran faster through the woods trying to think about the pain that Naruto must have gone through to have one of his own teammates come after him and take him away from the place where he felt secure. It must have been Hell.

His heart raced faster as he looked back at where he left his younger brother behind. "I'll come back to you," he kissed his gloved hand, extending it to the direction of Konoha. "I love you," he placed the hand over his chest as he turned around.

He could still feel Sasuke's flesh on his fingertips; he could still see the smile on his face. He wished that they could have had one more night to finish everything that they had. They weren't granted that wish. Once again they were being pushed around by some greater force; there was no stopping the misery.

"I've wasted enough time," he jumped into the trees, leaping form branch to branch, his lungs burning with every breath. He had to work as hard as possible just to catch up.

It only took a few days to get to the Sound Village, Kabuto and Sakura were already over an hour ahead of him. If they didn't take some time to rest then he would have to intercept them in the Godforsaken land itself. He prayed that it wouldn't have to come to that. He would lose a battle against the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Sakura, and Kabuto combined. He would die the second that he took one out.

"Faster!" he told himself as he moved quicker through the trees. _I have to double the speed that they're going at. Then I will be able to take them out. This time I'm going to win this. There will be no more holding back up against them._

The bark beneath his feet broke as he leapt off of the branch. He could feel the chakra roll faster through him. He had a positive feeling about this. He knew that if he could separate the two of them they wouldn't be as strong as they thought they were. The plan was to take Sakura out first and then move on to Kabuto in hopes that he could escape victorious.

_If I can do all of this without Sasuke having to get hurt, it would be ideal, _he moved faster. _All I have to do is handle this as quickly as possible. There is no telling what could happen if he gets involved._

He pushed himself faster, the scenery flashing by his eyes quickly as he moved faster, his breath catching in his lungs. This was what he was living for; this was the moment that he would have killed to taste. It was more than a goal, it was more than a dream, this was the reason why he survived. This was the reason why he hadn't died. He was going to win this, even if he had to sacrifice everything to obtain that luxury.

_You're dead, Sakura; I haven't forgotten our promise to one another… _he curled his fist tighter. It was beginning.

-----

Sasuke staggered down the street still feeling lost from the world that he once knew. Since Itachi left, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't even feel as though he was alive. This was what life was like before Itachi came back, this was the way that he was: alone. He was satisfied with that, but now that he had gotten a taste of what life was like with someone else, he knew that he could never be alone again. There was nothing left for him to hold onto.

He knew that Itachi said that he was going to be back, but could he trust him? It was only a few moments ago that he could barely breathe, what made him think that he could take on Kabuto Yakushi? Sasuke shook his head as he tried to block out the thoughts of those bastards actually winning this fight. Itachi was going to win everything that they had tried so hard to do. He had to think of the sheer determination that Itachi had within, the emotions that ran wild as he looked off into the distance, the same emotions that Sasuke had felt surge into him whenever they went to sleep.

The rain fell on him as he continued to walk down the street searching for a familiar face, searching for someone who was going to make all of this pain go away. If there was just one person that he could reach out for, one person who would help him through this, he would be more than grateful. He could feel Itachi running away from him full speed. He could feel Itachi start to die on him. He would feel the pain, but once again, he couldn't do anything about it.

"Sasuke?" a voice called out from the side, his onyx eyes moved to look up at who it was. "Sasuke? Is that you?" he looked to see who it was, it was Chouji. "Guys, it's Sasuke."

"Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked as he looked over at the soaked Uchiha. "What the hell are you doing out in the rain. You're soaked!"

Shivering, Sasuke moved closer to them, his eyes meeting theirs. He could barely focus as he watched Ino's eyes widen in shock looking at his soaked clothes. He couldn't look at them; he couldn't even bear to be out here alone. The love bites on his neck were the only souvenir of his brother, but those would eventually fade as well.

"Are you alright?" Ino asked as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You'll catch the death of cold if you stay out here for too long. What are you doing out here anyway?"

He looked into their eyes, turning his head quickly to observe every set. They were all clueless to what had happened to Naruto. They didn't know that something huge was happening. They didn't know that this was his and Itachi's last chances to make it out of this plan with all that they ever wanted. Sasuke damned himself for allowing Konoha to be so far away from what Itachi was planning. He was trying to save them from any future take-over that Orochimaru would try to put together. No one knew that Itachi was thinking for the well being of the village instead of his own personal gain.

"Sasuke?" Chouji asked as he noticed the lost look in his eyes. "What's going on? What happened to you?"

He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to come up with the words to say, they were escaping him again. All he could think about was everything that mattered to him running through those woods on the borders of Konoha. He couldn't tell them about Naruto. Now he realized the pain that Sakura and Naruto went through when they tried to tell Team 10. He felt their pain to late to save them.

"Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked. "What the hell is going on?"

"Naruto…" the Uchiha was able to say with great difficulty. "Naruto… he… he was t-taken," this was harder than he ever wanted it to be, the most difficult thing that he ever had to say to anyone.

It admitted his failure to save him, all because he was too scared to intervene. This was the price that he had to pay. This was his punishment. This was the path that he had chosen, and he finally understood everything that Itachi had said. Now he wished that he could go back to actually pay attention to what his brother had told him, he made more sense than Sasuke wanted him to. Now it was too late to even think of that. While he stood here dumbfounded, Itachi was running to his death.

"Taken?" Ino asked. "Sakura was here?"

Sasuke nodded. "Itachi's going after her, she could be killed."

They were silent until Chouji spoke up. "And what do you think we can do? The Hokage said no. There's nothing more that can be done…"

"We have to try," Sasuke argued.

"No," Shikamaru answered. "This village has already been through enough. I think this is the time for it all to stop. Your game was fun for a while, Sasuke, but I've had it with being rejected from the Hokage. I've had it with people saying no. If Itachi Uchiha wants to take care of this so be it."

Sasuke curled his fists tighter as he closed his eyes. "You all make me sick…" he looked up into Ino's eyes. "After all that you said about saving your best friend, you're just going to give up? You're just going to take this, Ino? You're going to take the pain that people are trying to give you?"

"Sasuke, we can't do anything to save Naruto," she closed her eyes, Sasuke could see it in the way she was standing, the way here body was shaking. She wanted to go with him to help save Naruto and Sakura, but she couldn't. She hadn't broken the bonds that Konoha had given her.

Watching them, Sasuke turned around and started to walk toward the exit of Konoha. _I've given up to much to lose you, Itachi. I'm not going to let someone else kill you. I'm not going to sit back and watch that happen._

"Sasuke!" Shikamaru shouted as he extended his hand to reach out to the other genin. "Wait!"

"Save it," Sasuke huffed not looking back at them. "After all you've been through; you still are a bunch of cowards. You're a disgrace to your sensei. Do you think that Asuma would sit back and watch as this village was used by an organization that wishes to kill everyone in their path? He didn't teach you anything did he? He didn't teach you anything about being a real ninja. You all are nothing but cowards! Fucking cowards!"

He turned to walk away leaving a dumbfounded Team 10. Everything that they had gone through, they thought that they were doing the right thing sitting on the side line, waiting for their village to be a safe place again. They were wrong. All of this time as they watched as Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were suffering, they never really helped them through it. They watched it all happen, now they were watching as it blew up in their face.

"_When a paper is ripped to shreds it can never be whole again, but with a little effort it can become something new, maybe even more perfect than before."_

"Sasuke…" Shikamaru whispered before looking back at his teammates. He knew what he had to do.

-----

The rain stopped as Kabuto continued to move through the trees, the air not feeling as cold as it had been. Itachi was close. He could practically feel the dying embers of the Uchiha's power as he pushed further through the woods. He looked from left to right at the ground below to see if there was any trace of Itachi being there. He didn't expect him to be moving this fast.

"Kabuto?" Sakura asked as she looked over at her superior. "What's wrong? Do you see Sasuke or Itachi?"

_I shouldn't tell her… _he looked over at her with a smile on his face. "No, they won't be near us for hours. At their best they'll meet us while we're in the Sound Village," he held onto Naruto's body tighter. _The Akatsuki are going to kill me if I bring this boy back dead. I have to be careful and work quickly before Itachi catches up. I didn't know he would be this tough, and now that he's not hurt anymore… it could be deadly._

He stopped on the branch as he heard someone following them. He knew that it was Itachi. They hadn't seen each other in some time; it was only polite that they would meet again. This time Kabuto knew if he wanted to win it wouldn't be as easy as it was last time. If Sasuke could almost beat him, then Itachi could kill him no problem.

"Kabuto, what is it?" Sakura asked, stopping on the same branch as Kabuto. "Is someone following us?"

He could sense the chakra coming close to them; it was strong, hot, burning. He knew what it was. Itachi was sending an attack right in their direction. He was requesting to engage in battle. He was throwing a fire attack at them.

"Get down!" Kabuto yelled as he jumped to the ground, holding on tightly to Naruto and Sakura, the fireball hitting right where they stood. He could smell of the burning as the ash fell onto them. _That was close. _He looked up into the branches to look for where Itachi was. He could only hear rustling as his feet hit the hard surface of the wood, he couldn't see where he was. Kabuto scanned everywhere for him, he couldn't see him.

"Where are you?" he screamed at the branches. "I know you're there, Itachi! Show yourself! Where are you hiding?"

Sakura looked up at the branches. _Itachi? You're here…_

"Where are you?" Kabuto continued to yell as he placed Naruto on the ground, pulling out a poisonous kunai. "I can hear you, Itachi; you blew a fireball at me. I know you're there!" he threw the kunai hitting the branch. "Itachi!" he pulled out another as he scanned the trees above him. "You wanted a fight, I'll give you a fight, just get your ass down here! Come and face me like a man!"

As he blinked he knew that he had missed something. The second that his eyes closed, the ground beneath him cracked just a little. The force that was driven into the ground could only be akin to one person that he could identify. Itachi was here.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Itachi breathed, grasping Kabuto's shoulders, driving his knee into his chest, pushing him to the ground. "We'll fight; the winner gets to take the fox…"

Kabuto struggled to get back up to his feet, tripping over the rubble as he looked into Itachi's eyes. He saw strength that had been gone while he was still wounded. This wasn't a fight that he was going to be able to win; he was going to die here if he kept feeding Itachi's sadism. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he was going to lose.

Suddenly a smile came to his face as he looked back at Sakura. He knew he made an excellent choice when he chose to pick up an accomplice. He wasn't going to fall here. He was going to make it to the Sound Village with Naruto. Sakura was going to die in his place.

"Sakura," he looked back at her. "Can you handle him for a while? This has become too dangerous for Naruto, so I'm going to progress to the village with him. Hold off Itachi for as long as you can," he moved to scoop up Naruto, starting to walk away with him. "Meet me when you've finished him off."

Itachi started to walk off with Naruto. "Do you think I'm going to let you run off with him?" he slammed his fist to the ground, Kabuto stumbling as the ground shook. "You're dead wrong if you think I'm going to let you win that easily, Kabuto," he took a deep breath as he looked up at the Sound ninja. "You think that I'm going to let you walk away with Naruto?"

Sakura watched as Itachi continued to punch at Kabuto, trying his hardest to take Naruto back with him. She could only stand in awe as she watched the ferocity of hits, the cries of her superior as leather hit his skin. She knew what she had to do; she would have to distract Itachi to save her friend's life. She grasped a kunai tightly, hurling it in his direction.

"Run Kabuto!" Sakura shouted. "I'll stay and take care of this. Take Naruto and run! Hurry!"

Itachi looked over at her, his eyes narrowing. "Fine, I'll humor the insect. I'll see you in a few minutes, Kabuto, be prepared for the end," he walked toward Sakura, his fist curled tightly. "Let's go, Sakura!"

He pushed his fist to the ground, watching her fall, running to her side to grab her shoulders tightly as Kabuto ran away. His eyes looked straight into hers, his power flowing through her body as she shuttered in his grip. She could see that she was wrong to mess with him; she shouldn't have let it end up like this. She trusted him. She healed him. Now it had come to this, now they would suffer at each other's hand. She was going to have to fight him. She was going to have to risk her life to him. This was a mistake.

"Sakura…" he breathed, his eyes narrowing. "I don't want to have to hurt you. If you let me go right now you won't have to die here. You could live the life that you always wanted and all of your friends will be safe. If you keep me here, you will die," he touched her cheek lightly. "Do you want that? Do you want me to kill you?"

She looked into his eyes, biting at her lip. "I want you to leave us all alone. Stop lying to me about all of this. You all want to kill Naruto, I'm not that dumb. I saw what Kabuto did to Iruka; I know that he has horrible intentions for Naruto. First I'll kill you then I'll go to Kabuto. I won't let you hurt anymore people…"

She heard him laugh; she never heard the crinkle of leather as he made a tight fist. Nor did she sense it coming toward her. All she could feel was the excruciating pain as he hit her, his eyes narrowing in hate. A single drop of blood passed her lips as she fell to the ground, tears starting to streak her cheeks. This was going to be more difficult than she thought.

"If it's a fight you want, Sakura Haruno, then it's a fight you're going to get," his lips curled into a smirk. "We'll see who falls first…"

He drove another fist into her cheek as she fell to the ground. "I-Itachi…" she coughed again as another tear fell down her cheek. "Itachi…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **The battle between Sakura and Itachi has begun while Kabuto is on his way to give Naruto to the Sound Village. The next chapter is going to be their fight scene as well as how Konoha is going to handle the fact that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are now gone. There are only six more chapters until the end. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Awaiting the fight scene? Honesty is always a plus. 


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything that has to do with this series (Naruto) Masashi Kishimoto does

**Warnings:** This chapter contains a lot of blood and violence, strong sadism, strongs thoughts of homicide, a lot of discussion pertaining to death, references to sexual situations, some incest, some yaoi, coarse language, slight thoughts of suicide, OOC, and the canon is not this story's best friend. There are also some errors in here as well as a poorly written fight scene, this chapter is also shorter than half of the chapters in the story.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, a little SasuSaku, some ItaSaku, a trace of AsuKure, a pinch of GaiKaka, a dash of NaruSaku

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes as she struggled off of the ground. There was something different about Itachi; she could tell by the way that he moved. He had been working, training to this day so the gap between them couldn't close as much as she wanted it to. The amount of raw power that went into every single one of his punches was enough to make he body freeze in place. Another hit and she could be dead. 

_I never expected him to be this good… that means that Sasuke must be almost comparable to this. What was I thinking doing all of this? _She looked up into his scarlet eyes, her body shaking at the sight. She had to kill him; it was the only way to make sure that Naruto was going to be safe. She couldn't risk his life anymore.

"Now die," he breathed as he pushed his fist into the ground, missing her head by a few inches as he narrowed his eyes, looking into hers, his breathing heavy as he never broke the contact, his knuckles digging in deeper to the ground. "Sakura… you could have prevented all of this, you could have gotten out of this alive. You could have been the one who could save Naruto…"

Her eyes closed as she looked away from him, she could hear the ground crumbling beneath his left hand. He was serious about hurting her. This wasn't a game to him; this was his life running away from him. She could tell that he was in pain as he looked at the direction that Kabuto had gone in.

"Let me go," he breathed as he stood up, starting to stagger toward the direction where Kabuto had walked. "Let me finish this, Sakura. Let me have my life back. I'm asking you to find it in your heart to let me go right now…"

She looked up at him. "You're lying…" she struggled to her feet. "You're lying to me, Itachi. You're not going to save anyone; you aren't going to be the hero. You're _Itachi Uchiha_, you don't know the words mercy and compassion. All you know is torment and pain. I'm not going to listen to anyone ever again. Not like you!"

She grasped a poisonous kunai and threw it in his direction watching him jump out of the way, pulling out his own kunai, hurling it in her direction. As she moved out of the way, he had already moved his body to be behind hers, his hands grasping her hair as he pushed her to the ground. More tears passed her lips as she felt his grip tighten on her hair, she cried out once.

"You're hurting me…" she grunted.

"Let me go, Sakura," he loosened his grip. "You can still live through this. I told you I don't break promises, but you can live if you let me leave you here. I can bring Naruto back to you, I can make all of this right again. You've got to trust me."

"I don't have to do anything," she hissed, moving her elbow to hit him in the abdomen with all of the strength that she had. She never thought that he would be this physically strong. Itachi was always a genjutsu type ninja, but his taijutsu was now comparable to Gai's.

He spat once. "So be it," he caught his breath quickly in between coughs. "I won't go easy on you like I did last time. Kabuto and Sasuke aren't here to stop us. You're going to die here, Sakura!"

Pain filled her body as she was thrown to the ground, the sound of his heavy breathing filling her ears. Every hit at her was passionate as she fell to the ground; she could feel the pain that he was going through. She was making a mistake.

Itachi stepped back from her as he looked into her eyes. "Sakura, you're a brave girl challenging me. I've seen highly trained jounin beg for mercy at my feet. You're also a stupid girl, aren't you? At your current level, you won't be able to defeat me. You're going to die for a man who poisoned your friend, suppressing the capabilities of the spirit. He'll die, Sakura, he's going to die before he even makes it to the Sound Village."

"That's not true," she breathed, closing her eyes. "Stop lying to me! Stop it, Itachi! What makes you think that you know anything about this situation? I helped set it up. I helped Kabuto make the poison," she shook her head, struggling to her feet. "What makes you think that you understand what that poison is?"

"Because," he took a deep breath, grabbing the handle of his sword, "I removed the said poison from a Konoha chunnin not too long ago. I analyzed it. What you probably thought was just to kill me was to immobilize Naruto's strength so he doesn't fight back. It won't kill him as fast because the nine-tails is trying to cure him, but the poison will soon halt that luxury."

She closed her eyes: Iruka was going to die and Itachi saved him. What kind of war did she get herself into? She was on the side where they killed everyone in their way, Kabuto didn't know the meaning of the word injure. She had been played like a fool again. Once again she had been nothing more than a burden to Naruto and Sasuke, now she was killing them. Slowly she got to her feet as she looked into red eyes, her own eyes narrowing.

"Are you going to fight me, or are you going to chicken out?" she smiled wickedly as she looked into his eyes, watching his hand tighten on the sword. "Are you going to run away from all of this or are you going to take it like a man?" she watched as he slowly walked toward her. "That's right; show me what you can do…"

Her words were cut off as she felt the handle of the sword dig into her stomach, pushing deeply at her. She couldn't breathe as she looked up at him. This wasn't the fight that she wanted to start out with. She would fight Sasuke anytime compared to taking on his brother. Itachi was hungry for her blood as he pushed the handle deeper into her.

"Still want to act tough?" Itachi asked as he watched her fall to the ground. "Or are you going to humor me some more?" he grasped her hair again, pulling her off of the ground. "You're not so tough now are you? What's wrong? Finally realize that you're too weak?"

Sakura coughed lightly, a drop of blood passing her lips. "I will love to see the day that you burn in Hell…" she coughed as she clutched her side. "I'll see you when this is over…"

"Hell?" Itachi asked with a grin. "That doesn't suit you. No one like you should be cursed to the same realm as me," he gripped her hair tighter. "What makes you think that a divine creature like you has made mistakes that compare to mine? You haven't even dreamed of actually killing someone, have you?"

"I'll kill _you_!" she gasped, looking back at him. "I won't rest until the day when I bathe in your blood."

"Keep your dreams small," he commanded as he pulled at the hair tighter. "The smaller the dream, the easier it is to accomplish. You'll find that there are many obstacles in your way, but you can overcome them if you stay within your limits."

She struggled to break free from his grip as she felt his hand tighten in the locks of pink. Everything around her started to blur as she realized what she had gotten herself into. Kabuto didn't care about her well being, all he cared about was Naruto. To prove that point, he had now left her with the most challenging opponent she would ever face. She was nothing but a pawn in his sick game.

Everything that they had done together was completely expendable. The moments that they shared weren't to make her better; they were nothing more than to use her as a distraction up against Itachi. This was her purpose; she was supposed to die at this man's feet while Kabuto got to live. She had been used.

"Are you going to let me go?" Itachi asked, pushing her to the ground, stepping gently up against her back. "Sakura, I didn't want it to come down to this, but when I am threatened as much as I have been I'm given no choice. The nine-tails is mine, he belongs to me. So be a smart little girl and stand out of my way…"

She watched as he started to walk after Kabuto, her body shaking as she thought of all that they had gone through. She had come too far to watch Naruto die. The sooner Itachi was defeated, the sooner she could get to Kabuto.

"No!" she cried out, running to grasp his wrist pulling him back, his body not moving from the spot where he was standing. "Stop it! Please…"

He looked back at her, his eyes narrowing as he tried to break free. "Begging? What are you trying to prove?" he scoffed. "Sakura, I have to do this, this is what I've wanted from the first day. The pain and suffering I gave everyone was so he would hand himself over easily…"

"All of that was for Naruto?" she asked her voice shaking. "All that you've done was for Naruto?"

"Some of it," he looked back at her. "Sakura, this had nothing to do with you. I don't know what caused this sudden change of heart, but you have to put your fortuitous hatred behind us. You could save Naruto…"

She grasped a poisonous kunai, closing her burning eyes tightly as her hands shook. "Like hell…" she opened her eyes as her grip of the kunai was starting to falter. "Like hell you're going to save Naruto. I believed you once, Itachi, and I found out that throughout all of this you were playing Konoha…"

Her hand moved swiftly to move to Itachi's chest, pressure holding onto her wrist as he grabbed it tightly. The kunai fell to the ground as she looked into red eyes, her whole body shaking. _He's serious,_ his hand tightened as he curled his other into a fist. _He's going to fight for Naruto, but why? _She watched as his eyes narrowed, the creaking of his leather gloves filling her ears. _Why is he doing all of this?_

"Sakura," he panted. "I will ask you one last time to move out of the way…"

"And I am telling you that I'm not going to move," she breathed back, narrowing her eyes. "I can defeat you. Don't underestimate me because I'm a girl, you sexist pig…"

"It's not that you're a girl," his fist drove into her stomach again as she fell to the ground. "It's that you're nothing more than a genin, Sakura. The level that Sasuke was at before I helped him was less than formidable. What makes you think that a normal genin who doesn't have a kekkei genkai would be better than him?"

Sakura struggled to catch her breath; he was dong severe physical damage with his taijutsu. Desperately, she looked for a weakness; she looked for an aspect that he was lacking in. She found none.

"Give up?" he asked, looking down at her. "Or do you still want to play this game that you've fallen in love with. Fight all you want, Sakura. It's futile. You were a fool to go off with Kabuto. You should have stayed out of this…"

"You should have stayed out of Konoha, you knew we'd retaliate," she struggled to say, her breath not coming easily.

"This is hardly retaliation. They all think that if I get what I want I'll leave. Not entirely an incorrect theory," he laughed as he started to walk past her. "You see Sakura; I have no interest in your pathetic village. You can have it. All I want is to take what is rightfully mine. Everything else means nothing to me."

Sakura's lip quivered in anger as she struggled to her feet, the scalding pain of bruises running through her body as she tried. The pain was too great; this was the pain that she had caused. Why couldn't she have just let him go? Why couldn't she let him walk by? She let him do it before; she even taught him how to use a technique that saved his life. Every time she looked at him, she saw something beyond a criminal: she saw a human being. She saw flaws. She saw pain. She saw mistakes. She saw everything that made him truly human, everything that he had been trying to hide. But she didn't want to see that.

She wanted to see the monster that he was, she wanted to see the torture that he had caused, she wanted to see what she could not. Even now as he walked away from her in the direction of Naruto, she knew that he was right all along. He was going to be the one to save Naruto. But she still couldn't let him go.

"Itachi," she breathed as she got to her feet. "If you want to pass… you'll have to kill me…"

"You think I won't?" Itachi asked coldly and quickly, the atmosphere around them starting to chill. "I should have killed you a long time ago, Sakura Haruno. I should have killed you the second that you came running at me with that dagger," he glanced back at her. "I would have, you know. Sasuke wasn't only saving me when he jumped in the way of the attack, he was saving you too. Why, I don't know. I would never save a person who was running at someone with a dagger with intent to kill. Sasuke was always so _human_, it's so beautiful. Don't you think?"

She shook her head as she tried to get to her feet, her whole body shaking. This wasn't going to end the way that everything else ended. She wasn't going to watch as he ran away with everything leaving her with nothing. There was no time for her to be weak; she was all that they had. She was going to have to save them. She was going to have to stop Itachi before Naruto got caught in the crossfire.

"Why are you standing there?" she asked with a smile. "Don't want to pass?"

He looked over at her with a scoff. "Fine, I'll appease you…" he walked closer to her. "But you made a mistake," he curled his hand into a fist. "Now die!" he pushed his fist to the ground watching her fall. He moved quickly to kick her forcefully, her body pressing into a tree, her body falling to the ground. The sound of her bones cracking filled her ears. She wasn't going to make it.

"I-is that it?" she asked, looking up at him, wiping the blood from her lips. "Aren't you going to kill me?"

"Asking to die?" he asked, grasping his sword, walking toward her. "Sakura, when somebody says that they will spare your life with no strings attached never ask them to kill you. They'll do it," he pulled his sword from the sheath, pointing it at her. "You want to die, Sakura?" he pushed the sword closer. "Because you're going to…"

She closed her eyes tightly as she watched him pull the sword back, starting to thrust it toward her. This was going to be the end.

-----

They all looked at the papers that were on the desk. This was time of urgency, not the usual threats that they had gotten. Three genin have gone missing, a chuunin was almost killed in the process. The havoc that Kabuto Yakushi brought was more than Itachi Uchiha had ever dreamed of.

"How long has Naruto Uzumaki been missing?" the Hokage asked, looking at the jounin who had been crowded at his desk. "What about the last sighting of Sakura Haruno, when was that? And Sasuke Uchiha, when was he last seen?"

Kurenai looked him straight in the eyes. "According to Iruka Umino, Naruto Uzumaki was taken last night at approximately eleven. That was also the last time that Sakura was seen. As for Sasuke Uchiha, we don't know much about what he's been doing at all. We just know that he's left the village."

The Hokage shook his head. "He's going to pursue Naruto and Sakura to bring them back to the village… he could be killed by Kabuto Yakushi."

There was a slight silence right before Gai spoke up. "He didn't go alone. I've heard reports that Itachi Uchiha has gone that way as well."

"He's going to kill her," the Hokage whispered venomously.

He should have known that it was all going to end up this way; he should have known that this feud between the two of them would continue. Perhaps it was wrong not to send anyone after Sakura sooner. Now all they could do was sit and wait to see who the victor was, not knowing which one they wanted to emerge the winner. It was a deadly battle that they had only helped become more vicious, now there were three genin who could be killed in the process.

"What do we do now?" the Hokage asked, looking at the three jounin at his desk. Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai were almost silent as they all looked at each other. "You all were so vocal about what to do before we were actually going to lose these children."

The room was silent as the three jounin closed their eyes, trying to find some way to save these kids. There was no more hope. All three of them were in the middle of a humungous feud, the survival rate not in their favor. The question that Gai had asked was running through their minds? How would Kurenai feel if Shino, Kiba, and Hinata's lives were on the line? How would Asuma feel if it were Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino? How would Gai feel if it were Neji, Lee, and Tenten? They couldn't even begin to feel how Kakashi was feeling. They were selfish to try to control this outcome; they were too late to realize their mistake.

"What is there to do?" Asuma asked, looking up at the Hokage. "There's no telling what's going to happen to us if we go out there. Itachi Uchiha is a ruthless ninja; he will stop at nothing to get what he wants."

"If we tried hard, we could probably save one of them," Gai continued.

"But which one?" Sarutobi asked, looking at the three of them. "Which one of the three children are we going to save?"

There was another silence as the jounin looked away from them, Asuma finally opening his mouth to speak. "Sasuke…"

Kurenai's red eyes shot open as she looked over at Asuma. "What did you say?"

Asuma sighed as he clenched his jaw. "Sasuke was the last one to leave. He left the village all by himself. That makes him the easiest to bring back. If we leave now before he catches up to his brother there is a chance that we can save him."

"You can't be serious," Kurenai scoffed. "You can't actually believe that we can only save one of them. Asuma, Gai, how can you look at these children and honestly believe that only one of them can live? If you can save one, you can save all of them."

"I wish we could," Gai continued. "But I agree with Asuma, we can save Sasuke if we work quickly. We could catch up to him before he gets to Itachi and we can bring him back here until it dies down. Sakura is with Kabuto and it would be dangerous to retrieve Naruto. We have to save the ones that we know we can."

"And you think that Sasuke is going to run away with you?" Kurenai asked. "Those are his teammates out there. Do you think that he's going to run away from them?"

"Those are my thoughts exactly," a voice called out from the door, the sound of a cane hitting the ground being heard as he drew closer. "That's why we have to try our hardest to get all three of them out of there so that Kabuto and Itachi can end their feud," the sounds moved to the front of the desk as the other jounin looked to their sides. "We have to work our hardest to get all of them back."

"Kakashi," the Hokage sighed, looking at him. "I told you that you don't have to do anymore for the village. We can't risk your health throughout this, whether they are your students or not."

The other jounin closed their eyes tightly as they heard those words were spoken. Kakashi was only allowed to sit and watch from a distance as all three of his students were in danger of dying. How could any human force that pain upon another human, let alone one who had gone through so much? After a long struggle to save his students, Kakashi Hatake was stuck watching every last one of them die, making bets on the one who they would be able to save.

"Try to secure Sasuke," the Hokage continued.

"What of Sakura and Naruto?" Kurenai repeated. "Sir, you can't honestly want to leave them to die. They're part of Konoha, they're Konoha ninja, and you want them to die?"

"We save who we can," Asuma breathed, closing his eyes. "If we can save Sakura from Itachi and Naruto from Kabuto then we do so. But the chances that Sakura has survived whatever Itachi has thrown at her is slim to none. I fought with him, Kurenai; he's not one to go easy someone. Even when he does, the blow is just as bad as it would if he was being merciful. The difference is that one way you die, the other there's a chance you might live."

"Then we should stop standing around," Kurenai breathed. "Let's assemble a team to go scout to see if Sakura's alright."

"I already assembled a team, that is if the Hokage will allow mw to do something in this mission," Kakashi looked over at him. "I will ensure that more people will survive this. No one on the team that I send will die, I put my faith in them."

Everyone looked at the old man as if asking him to listen to what Kakashi was saying. The whole time throughout the whole Itachi scare, Kakashi was right about everyone. This could be what they needed to solve the problems; this could save all three of the misguided genin. This could be what they've been looking for this whole time. This could be the way to make this work out.

"Fine, I'll allow it, Kakashi. Save as many as you can, but I want this team that you've made to have a little contact with Itachi as possible. I don't want more people to die in this feud. Do what you like with Kabuto, but remember, I still don't want Itachi dead, we don't know what we'll upset if we kill him."

"What team did you put together for this?" Asuma asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

Kakashi looked straight at his colleague. "Your team, Asuma… Team 10," he watched as the other jounin stared blankly at him. "Iruka Umino has volunteered to oversee them as well as come back here if we get any more information. That's why I want permission for Asuma and me to be back in commission to help Kurenai and Gai throughout this…"

There was another long silence. "Depends, are you two willing to give everything up? Are you willing to die for this cause? Are you willing to end everything that you worked for just to bring these genin back?"

Kakashi sighed. "I am…"

The Hokage looked over at Asuma. "Asuma?"

Silence filled the room again as he closed his eyes, all of the jounin looking at him. Would he really risk his life to save all of these children? The same way that he risked his life before when he fought against Itachi? He reopened his eyes and looked into those of the Hokage, into the ones of his father. Taking a deep breath he mustered up enough to give him the answer.

"I will…" he looked back at Kurenai seeing the tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Besides, I'm not in that bad of condition, I think that I can still make it through this," he looked forward at the Hokage. "I will go if it is necessary."

The Hokage looked at Kakashi. "Send your team on the way to the route of where we saw Sasuke go, but I want no contact with Itachi Uchiha. I won't lose anymore of my ninja to him."

Kakashi nodded as he walked toward the door, Gai walking after him. "Are you insane, Kakashi? What are you trying to prove? I know that Asuma can still take the pain, but you?"

There was no response for the jounin as Kakashi continued to move. Gai stood there as if he were staring off into nothing. This was the final road that he had to choose. Kakashi chose to walk to save his students. For once Gai knew what he would have done if it was one of his students. He would be doing the same as Kakashi was right now. He would risk everything for them.

"Kakashi," Gai whispered as he watched him turn a corner. "Why do you always have to act so in control, even when you're in the worst pain of your life? Why do you always have to outshine me?"

A single tear hit the ground as he closed his eyes. This was what it had all come down to. If his plan had gone through, what would have been happening now? Would they have to be in this situation? The whole time all Gai cared about was Kakashi. All he cared about was if Kakashi was going to make it out of this alive. Now he realized that he was a fool to think that he could control this situation. Kakashi would eventually die; he would have to let him go no matter how much it hurt him.

-----

_There's no time to spare, _his feet hit the branches harder as he made his way through the path that Sakura and Kabuto went through. Everything that he had to make him feel secure was all leaving him so fast; there was no telling when he was going to lose his own life.

After all of his training, all of the time spent on perfecting himself, he knew that none of it would matter anymore. Itachi was going to die throughout this plan, there was no more saving him, there was no more time for him if Sasuke continued to move this slow. Thoughts ran through his mind, why did he let him go off on his own? He still wasn't fully healed from the injuries he was caused. He might never be able to heal. The blood stains were never going to leave Sasuke's mind.

Sasuke blanched as he thought about all of that blood that night when he walked into that room. Every drop was his brother's blood. He didn't know that he would be able to heal him that much. He thought that he would have to consult a hospital, but Itachi would be too proud to seek outside help. He was too proud to even wait for Sasuke so he decided to work on himself in his state of hysteria. He almost killed himself doing that. He was in the same state right now. He was going to sacrifice everything to get Naruto away from Kabuto.

He started to increase his speed as he clenched his right fist, feeling his sensei's glove up against his hand. He had to try to get Sakura away from Itachi, even if he had to kill her himself. He kept his eyes forward as he tried to see something through the rising sun. All he could see was the color of red as the sun started to rise. The color of blood.

Taking a deep breath, he sprang off of the tree. There was no more time to sit back and try to ignore his friends. It was time to bring them back.

-----

"Damn it!" she yelled as she jumped out of the way of another one of his punches, the ground continuing to shake below her.

It felt like the whole world was going to cave in if they kept this up for much longer. She already had cuts and bruises along her legs and arms. If he actually managed to hit her, there was no telling what would happen. A hit like that could instantly kill her if she wasn't careful.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he licked her blood off of his lips, his red eyes matching the tint of the cursed liquid. "You aren't as tough now are you? Enough games, Sakura. What happened to you wanting to kill me? You haven't even laid a decent hand on me.

Her most important goal for right now was to get away from him before he found her. There was no telling what else he could do to her if she got to close. All of the techniques that Kabuto had taught her were now useless. Nothing was going to get through to him. He was too fast and too strong.

"Come out already!" he slammed his fist to the ground a few off the already loose trees starting to fall to the ground. All hiding spots were starting to be of no use to her. He was demolishing their battlefield. "Where are you?"

She stopped breathing as she felt the surge of chakra starting to come to the tree that she was hiding behind. _Shit! _She tumbled out of the way as she threw herself to the ground, his fist moving through the tree. _He's good. The sharingan is amplifying his accuracy. I'm not going to win this fight…_

"Amazing," he chuckled as he pulled his gloved hand out of the tree. "You foresaw that attack. I've been underestimating you…" he started walking toward her, his fingers moving to grasp her hair. "But then again, I've been treating you like a fly, a pathetic insect. What can you do to me that you haven't already tried?" he grasped the hair tighter. "How about you stop playing the tough girl act and you let me pass. Or do you still wish to die?"

Opening her eyes she glared at him. "I'm going to fight until you die…"

"Then prepare to fight for a long time," he hissed. "Because I don't intend to die…" he closed his eyes gently. "You think you can win this just because you want to, don't you? You've forgotten that you're still a genin and your skills are still at that level. In a few years you could come back to me and possibly put a scratch on me. But not many genin have been able to do that while I'm in full health. Only Sasuke…"

She remembered the blood that had once been rolling from his lips. She remembered the agony that he was once in. That was no longer here to push the cards in her favor. He had an inhuman amount of chakra and his control over that chakra was flawless perfection. He was going to win this unless a miracle came along. She was going to die.

"So you're going to kill me?" she asked as she felt his fingers still run through her hair. "You're just going to wipe me off of the face of the earth with no regards of who's looking for me?"

"You chased them all away. You made all of them give up. Sakura, no one will care if you die. The punishment that you're going to go through is going to be unforgiving. I might be giving you the easy way out," Itachi pulled out a single sai. "There is not much out there for people like you and me. We broke away from everything that once mattered, and they forgot about the good that we once did. They can only see what we've become. We're monsters…"

"_You're_ a monster," she corrected, breaking free from the grip that was on her hair, her eyes moving down to look into his. "I can go back there if I wanted to, but I can't… there's nothing there for me… there's nothing for me in the Sound Village. Knonha betrayed me and Kabuto is using me. I was too fixated on hurting you to see it. Now I have nowhere to go, I have no purpose. But I have a new purpose. My purpose is to kill you!"

She pulled out a kunai and pointed it right in between his eyes watching him not even flinch in shock. Her tears poured down her cheeks as she looked down at him. She had to kill him. She had to put an end to him.

"Try it," Itachi stated monotonously. "You'll find that it's futile. No matter what you do, I know what's coming. I know everything that you can do because I know everything that Kakashi and Kabuto can do. Once you know everything the instructor can do, you know everything that the student can do. That's why Sasuke and I will kill you. You might know what we can do, but you can't do anything against it…" he curled his hand into a fist, pushing it to the ground, watching as she fell down.

She fell face first into the ground as she tried to catch her breath, her lip splitting as she tried to bury her face in shame. She felt so small in front of him. As she thought she was getting better, Itachi had developed a deadly aspect that she would never be able to fight. It was hard enough trying to dodge his almost perfect aim, now she had to watch out for his hits as well.

"Shit," she coughed her fingers, gripping at the dirt beneath her. There was no hope for her now. There was no way that she was going to escape him, nor did she want to. If she was going to die, she was going to die knowing that she tried to save her teammates. She was going to die with honor.

"Get up," he commanded as he looked down at her. "Sakura, get up and fight me or I'm going to leave you behind."

He was never like this whenever she heard stories. He was supposed to be reserved, but now just looking at his face was enough to understand what bloodlust truly was. He was going to kill her no matter what he said.

"Itachi," she breathed as she struggled to get off of the ground, blood dripping from her lips. Bruises, cuts, broken ribs, she wasn't going to survive another direct hit from him, so she had to hope that he would use his strength to push her to the ground rather than cause direct damage.

"What is it?" he asked as he gripped his sai tighter, looking down at her. "Is there something wrong?"

She grasped a kunai and held her hand out yet again only to have his foot move on top of the limb. She could feel the bones starting to break as he applied more force, twisting his foot little by little as he heard her cry out in pain. He was taking away all ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques, only leaving her with hits and weapons. This battle was almost over. Itachi had just made it so.

"Sakura," he panted as he applied all of his weight to his foot, watching her eyes close tightly. "You never were going to win this fight. You were never strong enough to do it by yourself. You have potential, but you ran off too early for your own good. Now that you're alone with no one to guide you, you're useless…"

"I'm not useless," she argued, looking at the blood running from her hand and then at the red irises of his eyes. "I never was useless…"

"Now you are, you're a broken tool," he removed his foot as he backed away from her. "I should finish you off right now…" he curled his fist tightly as he looked into her green eyes. She was ready for the end.

The blood that ran from her lips sent chills down his spine. He remembered that pain, the pain where he could barely breathe. His fist started to falter as he moved forward to finish her off. But looking at the blood continuing to drip, his fist harmlessly hit the ground next to her. He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to block out the pain that was building in his lungs. Sasuke was right, he wasn't completely healed, and he never would be. The emotional scars were still sobbing to him as he tried to kill her.

"You," he breathed as he opened his eyes. "You now know the pain that I went through, you'll try to catch your breath but you never will. You'll never truly breathe again, Sakura. Now you know the pain that I went through. You know what it truly means to be nothing…"

Her green eyes watched as his hands moved to her hair pulling her forcefully off of the ground. She let out small pants as she felt the pulling at her scalp. The pain was far from over. She didn't know what he was going to do next, but as he held on tighter to the sai all she could see was the blood.

"You have gotten rid of all of your bonds, even the one to life. You threw your life away when you went off with him. You threw Naruto's life away as well," pulled her closer, his breath warm on her neck causing her to shudder at the contact. "The only bond that you've kept is the bond to my brother's love… isn't that right, Sakura?" he grasped her hair tightly. "Isn't that why you kept your hair long?"

Her whole body was shaking as she felt her body up against his, his pulse rushing hurriedly through her body as he continued to breathe in anticipation. She closed her eyes tightly and let out a small strangled noise as his hand tightened in her rose locks. The sai was close to her neck as she buried her face in his shoulder, gripping his shirt with her left hand. The blade came closer still; her only response was digging her teeth into his shoulder. She heard his gasp in shock as she dug her teeth deeper into his flesh, his hands shaking in her hair.

She could feel the thrill that Sasuke got out of that heartbeat, out of those gently breaths, it was magical. She could see why Sasuke wanted to be with him instead of her. He could supply so much. She had nothing to give to him, nothing but more pain and inconveniences.

"You only have one bond," he stated lightly. "Only one bond left out of all the bonds that you made. Why not break it like the rest of your bonds?" he held onto the sai tightly as he pulled tighter at her hair. "This is the last bond that you will ever have severed."

The pressure of his hand left her scalp as she felt her hair being cut from her head. Everything that she had to prove her love to Sasuke was gone. The last piece of assurance was gone. She could see the pink hairs falling to the ground out of the corner of her watering eye. Itachi had won this round, there was no taking that back.

"No bonds remain…" he snickered as he pushed her to the ground, standing up quickly. "Now let me go or I will take away your bond to this world as well…" he started to walk away, his eyes closing as he looked back at her. "Sasuke will come soon; maybe he'll take you back to the village. I'd have that hand looked at Sakura; I do believe that I broke it…"

Sakura sputtered through her tears as he ran her hand through the remainder of her hair. "You bastard, do you take pleasure in seeing me in pain? Or am I just the lucky one? Am I the one that you decided to harm?"

"You were the one who stood in my way," he stated as he walked back to her. "Do you want to know why Sasuke's been through all of this pain? Do you want to know who's been hurting him since I came back?" he knelt down to her. "You… it was you all along. Your betrayal, it hurt him deeply, you've made him go to the end of the line, to the end of the world and back and still you chose this. Look at what the darkness does, it leaves you when you need it the most."

She looked down at her hair, the last bond that she had ever made to anyone. She lay on the ground clueless to what was going to go on. Her left hand moved to touch the forehead protector on her head, the one that Kabuto gave her if she pledged her allegiance. It was another bond that she would have to break, a bond that no longer needed to be fortified. As he ran her hand through her hair, feeling it stop at her jaw line, she realized that Itachi hadn't made her path of loneliness start. She did this on her own.

Her hand moved to untie the forehead protector, watching it fall to the ground. What would she need Kabuto for anymore? She knew why she was here; she knew it the second that Itachi laid a hit on her. She was a distraction while he went off to the Sound Village. He never cared for her. This whole time she was on the wrong side, she was working for the greater of two evils.

"I've had it," she breathed as the metal of her forehead protector hit the ground. "What are you going to do to me now that you've gotten what you wanted? Are you going to kill me like you always wanted to because of what I did to Sasuke? I love him; I love your brother with my innermost soul, Itachi. I felt horrible about turning on him, but seeing him with _you_… I realized how happy you made him. I realized that maybe everyone was wrong about you. But I wanted to see the truth; I wanted to see what everyone wanted me to…"

He grasped the sai again as he pulled her by the small amount of hair that she had left. "Sakura," he moved to whisper in her ear. "I never got to formally thank you for making this all possible. Thanks to your kindness back in the hospital room both Sasuke and I are both still alive," he pushed the sai to her neck, causing her to cry out in shock. "I want you to die that girl in the hospital room."

She closed her eyes a tear falling down her cheek. Itachi was only alive because of what she did. She made Sasuke finally be able to bind his brother to this world when the bond was fleeting. It was thanks to her that they were still alive. More tears fell down her cheeks as she closed her eyes feeling the sai against her neck.

_I want to die that girl too…_

_

* * *

_**Author's Note: **I know that fight scene took longer than it should have, but Sakura barely made if made any hits to him at all. The story is going to the final countdown, only five more chapters left. The next chapter will be a continuation of fights with Sakura. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Should have done more damage to Sakura (she already has broken ribs and a broken hand upon many MANY other injuries)? Honesty is my policy and is a great thing to hear. 


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that has todo with the anime/manga _Naruto_

**Warnings: **This chapter contains major blood/violence, crude langauge, references to sexual situatons including rape, thoughts of homicide, thoughts of suicide, references to incest, some yaoi, subjects pertaining to death, OOC, and the canon is not much of a factor. This chapter has a lot of mistakes and is slightly shorter than the rest of the chapters. This chapter also has a poorly written fight scene (or rather scenes) but bear with me.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, some KakaIta, slight SasuSaku, some NaruSaku, a little ItaSaku, a hint of ItaKabu, a dash of SasuNaru, a pinch of SasuIno

* * *

Kakashi looked out the window as he took a deep breath. This had to work; this was the last resort, the last chance to help them through this. _I'm sorry Itachi, but I'm going to have to interfere. I'm not going to allow myself to lose all three of my students. I'm not going to let your foolish game go on for much longer._

He turned around as he heard the door open looking back at the chuunin who had just entered the room. Iruka Umino was the leader of the team that Kakashi was going to send out, he was responsible for all of their lives. Everyone could die during this mission. Then he'd have an outraged Hokage and a crazed seventeen-year-old after him. He had to think about what would make this mission work out. His goal was to get all three of them back safely, convince Itachi Uchiha to leave the village, and then bring Kabuto Yakushi to justice. This game had gone on for too long, it was time for Konoha to make their move before the checkmate.

"Kakashi," Iruka stated as he walked toward the jounin. "The team is ready to go out. All we need is you command."

The jounin sighed as he caught Iruka's reflection in the light that was illuminating from the sunrise. He was affected by this plan, the poison still running through his veins in trace amounts. He was the last line of defense for Naruto, but instead of just fighting him, the poisoned him, and Itachi Uchiha out of all people was the one who extracted it. Kabuto Yakushi was a bigger monster than the boy who killed his whole clan at the young age of thirteen. It was terrifying.

"Kakashi?" the chuunin asked. "Are you alright?"

Kakashi thought about the technique that Itachi had impressed the jounin with. The Poison Extraction Technique was not a technique that people had just learned with great ease. That technique was difficult to even the highest trained medical ninjas. Itachi was stronger than he was before, and now he was helping people who had nothing to do with him.

"Kakashi?" Iruka asked again.

The jounin looked back at him. "Your team is ready?"

"They just need your permission," the chuunin continued. "Once we have your allowance, we can start going after Sasuke."

The jounin looked back at Iruka. "Please, Iruka, don't let anything happen to my students. Bring them all back to me, bring them back safely. I don't want to lose them because I was unable to stop all of this from happening. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, I don't want any of them to die. Try your hardest to bring them all back."

"I will," Iruka sighed. "It was my fault that Naruto was taken in the first place. I won't rest until he is back in our hands. We're not going to let anything happen to any of them, not even to Team 10. Everyone is going to survive this endeavor. No one is going to die here…"

"I like that attitude," Kakashi sighed as he looked back at him, his eye trailing to the ground. "And don't go to close to Itachi… not only is he the most powerful ninja I've seen. I don't want to see him hurt…"

He closed his eyes, thinking of how Itachi was when he was younger, the small smiles that he tried to hide and the way his hands shook whenever Kakashi touched him. He was so fragile, almost like Kakashi was going to break him.

He closed his eye as he thought about all of the times that he had talked to Itachi. He could sense the pain that the boy was going through, but he was too weak minded to stop the boy before he did anything destructive. Itachi had clung onto him; he had made a bond with him that he was afraid to make with anyone else. That bond had only shattered in the worst possible way.

"I want you to try your hardest to get Itachi away from them, away from too much danger. I don't want to see him get hurt. If he dies…" Kakashi's eye opened sharply. "I will kill Kabuto Yakushi, and nothing will hold me back from doing it."

The chunnin nodded as he turned around and started to walk away. "I won't let anything happen to anyone except for Kabuto Yakushi. Itachi is the one who saved my life. I owe so much to him; I won't let him die…"

Kakashi looked at his bare right hand; the glove that he once wore was gone, now on Sasuke's hand. Sasuke, that kid had been through so much, he was the reason that Itachi had found to continue on with his life. There was nothing more for Itachi to fall back on if he lost that sense of comfort. That was Itachi's apprentice, the continuation of his legacy; it was his one and only disciple, his own blood. There was no way that he was going to allow him to die in battle. Sasuke was secure, but he wasn't too sure about Itachi, Itachi could have died throughout this. He could have been the one who would fall at the other's feet.

"I allow you all to leave," Kakashi stated. "Just be careful, Iruka. This could be the biggest battle that you will ever be involved in. I want you to remember that Itachi makes this an S-Rank mission. Be careful, and tread with caution. My team will catch up with you soon for back-up."

Iruka nodded as he walked out of the room, Kakashi alone in his thoughts of Itachi. He couldn't stop thinking about him now that he had come back. He thought that he would forget him; he thought that he would be gone out of his mind forever, he thought that he would never have to worry about him again. Now that he was back, and he was that strong, he was all that he could think of. The power of Tsukuyomi made him feel strange every time that he saw the Uchiha. There was nothing left for him to do.

There was nothing that could stop him from doing what he had to. He had to save Itachi from all of this. He had to be the one to bring this all back to the way that it was before. He swore that he would never watch someone that he cared about die again. No one involved in this mission was going to die. They were going to make it, or Kakashi would forever be damned.

"Itachi," he breathed as he looked out the window. "I didn't think that you would actually make this battle go to these extremes. I hope that you put Kabuto in his place, please don't let my students be killed…"

He closed his eye, thinking of the bloodshed, the anger that must be happening in the midst of that battle. Itachi and Kabuto fighting, his students forced to watch as full scale battle between two highly skilled ninja. Lives would be lost, Asuma was right, everyone knew that at least one genin was going to come back from it safe. They knew that they would be able to save Sasuke. Sakura was a victim to Itachi and Naruto was nothing more than just a victim to Kabuto Yakushi's plan. This didn't look good for anyone, not even the team. Itachi was going to fight them for Sasuke. He was never the type to back down.

"Please," he placed his hand up against the window. "Itachi…" he could feel his head swirling with thoughts of him. "Itachi…" he could feel his heart start to race as he continued to look out into the glass. "Ita…" he felt his legs start to get weak as his mind kept swirling through the shades of red and black. He had to snap out of it. He couldn't let this continue to get to him.

This mission was going to work. He had to keep telling himself that. There were going to be no flaws.

-----

_I'm almost there; _he looked at the broken branches of the trees as the forest started to lose its greenery. Something had been through here. Slowly his eyes fell to the ground where he saw it, a glimpse of pink hair in the middle of the fallen trees and blood. The ground was cracked and unleveled.

"Itachi…" he breathed as he looked at all of the fallen trees that were on the edges of the battlefield. His vision moved to the center where he saw Itachi holding Sakura tightly, a sai at her neck. "Itachi! Itachi! Stop it!" he jumped from the tree his feet landing on the ground as he looked straight at the secne that was before him.

He caught a glimpse of murderous intent in Itachi's eyes, his heart almost stopping in his chest as he looked deeper into those red irises. What had occurred here while he was trying to catch up? But more importantly, where were Kabuto and Naruto? He took a step forward as he noticed that Sakura was looking over at him.

"Saku…" he stopped as he looked at what she was now, his body freezing as he saw it: the blood rolling from her lips. "…ra?"

His eyes closed tightly as he held onto his stomach, trying to block out the memories of the night where he nearly lost Itachi. He couldn't even look at her, he knew what Itachi had done. Her breathing wasn't right, she had been hit, and he had put all of his chakra into it. Now he was going to do what he desperately wanted to happen, he was going to kill her.

"Sasuke?" she asked her voice weak as more blood rolled down her lips. Her hair was cut unevenly, the stray hairs still hanging onto the sai. Her arm was broken, as was her spirit. Itachi didn't even go easy on her. He was as cruel as usual.

"Itachi? What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, walking closer. "Where's Naruto?"

There was silence as Saskue waited for his answer, the blade starting to drop from the kunoichi's neck. Red eyes looked over at him, all of the blood thirst leaving them with every passing second. The sai fell to the ground as Itachi noticed the look in his younger brother's eyes, the fear and the disgust of the blood was rolling forcefully through him.

"Sasuke," he breathed as he pushed Sakura to the ground, hearing her squeal as her face hit the ground, small tears escaping her eyes. "You finally caught up," he stood up as he glanced down at Sakura. "Sakura needs medical attention. I think it would be wise for her to be taken back to the village…"

"What did you do to her?" Sasuke asked, looking down at the wounds that were on her body. "What the hell did you do to her, you bastard?"

Itachi finally flinched in shock as he heard those words. "I didn't kill her," he watched as Sasuke started to shake as he looked at the leather of Itachi's gloves. "Sasuke? Are you alright?"

Sasuke continued to shake as he looked at the blood starting to drip hurriedly, his eyes looking around him at the scene that was surrounding them. He could see every drop that was on the ground, remembering the night when it ran against his fingers, so warm, so relentless. He could still see Itachi bleeding with every drop that he saw. The more he looked at Sakura, the more he thought of that night.

_The blood, I should have known that he had a problem with it. After all that he's seen in his life, I wouldn't expect him to be able to take it. I have to get him out of here before there's too much. I don't want to see him hurt. _He looked back at him as he curled his fist. "Sasuke, take Sakura back to Konoha, I'll go after Kabuto. Catch up if you want, but I won't expect you to be there," he smiled lightly. "I'm going to bring your friend back."

He moved forward to walk away, a disturbance in that plan suddenly occurred. A senbon was thrown at his leg, hitting the ground behind him. Red eyes glanced over at the thrower of the senbon, seeing Sakura struggling to get to her feet, panting heavily as he coughed up blood.

"I won't let you get Naruto," Sakura hissed as she moved toward Itachi. "You think that I went through that much pain for you to pass. There is no way in Hell that I want you to do this to everything that I worked so hard for. You won't kill him. He won't die at your hand."

"Sakura," Itachi stated flatly. "You won't be in as much pain if you don't speak. The blood is starting to fill your lung, speaking will only make it worse. Take it from someone who has been where you are," he turned to her. "You can't do anything about me leaving. I told you that I would kill you. Sasuke has shown you mercy, thank him for that, if he had come a second later you'd be dead."

He turned around, moving to jump back up into the trees, moving out of sight as Sakura was commanding him to stop; cursing at him as she struggled to stand up. Sasuke closed his eyes at what his teammate had become. Sakura was nothing more than a broken tool on the ground. Kabuto had left her to die at the hands of Itachi; he never really cared about her. Only if she made it out of that fight in one piece would she have been a probable container.

"Aren't you going after him?" Sakura hissed, looking up into Sasuke's eyes. "After all, he's going to get himself killed…"

"You think Kabuto can kill him?" Sasuke asked with a scoff. "I don't care how strong that poison is that's lacing his weapons. We've already seen the poison; we know what it's doing. It's killing Naruto…" he curled his right fist tightly. "I hope you're happy, you helped them kill Naruto… it's thanks to you that he's going to die. After all of this time of being Team 7, we've all gone our separate ways, Naruto's going to die…" he closed his eyes. "Sakura…"

She closed here eyes as she started to laugh. "Naruto will probably die, but as you keep saying that, don't you have something to blame on your brother and you? Instead of being at home and fucking each other, you could have stopped us sooner."

"You should have never gotten involved," he answered, his hand curling into a tighter fist. "What gave you the right to interfere with everything?"

"Did you think that I was going to let you kill everyone?" Sakura asked, her green eyes narrowing. "I'm not someone who's going to allow you to walk all over her; I'm not going to let you kill everyone that we know. I'm not going to let you and Itachi play this game. I thought that Kabuto was different; I thought that he was going to save everyone. He lied to me… he left me here to die."

Sasuke's red eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to her, laughing condescendingly. "Sakura, Itachi spared you, now I'm going to take you back to the village," he crouched down next to her, extending his hand to her chest. "First I have to heal you, you're pretty beat up."

As he drew his hand closer, he was only met with a quick movement of Sakura's hand as she pushed him away. She didn't want his help. She didn't need his help. She was above begging for help from the younger brother of the man who made her like this. As she rejected him, she expected to be met with sympathetic eyes; maybe he would apologize for everything even though she was the one who had committed the wrongs. All she got was an ice cold look, met with a fist to her face as she fell to the ground.

"Sakura, I will take you to the village even if by force. The second that Itachi gets back here you're dead. Do you realize the danger that you're in? He wants to kill you, and he'll do it," he curled his fist tighter as he tried to look away from the crimson tendrils that were running from her nose. "Please… be smart and just let me take you away from here."

"I can't do that, Sasuke," she closed her eyes. "I don't want you to be with Itachi. How could I after all I've seen? I felt you start to die in my arms that day. I watched as Naruto cried the whole time that your heart stopped. I watched all of the pain that Itachi has caused you, yet still you go to him. I don't care what you say, I don't care if you hurt my feelings, all I want to know is the answer to one question," she looked up into his eyes. "Why? Why did you go with him? Why did you abandon me and Naruto?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I don't know…"

"Don't give me that bullshit," she yelled as she struggled to stand up, her right arm broken beyond possible use. "I don't care if it hurts. I don't care if you lie to me, just give me a reason," she fell to the ground as she let out a sharp squeal. "Just tell me why you did it…"

"Because," Sasuke closed his eyes. "I know he's still alive in there. I know that he is battling for control of his emotions. He's locked them up for so long, he's lost. He found them the second that I came back to him. The day when he came to my house and asked me to pledge my allegiance I saw him," he closed his eyes, his hands shaking. "My reason for going with him… because I didn't want to be alone again… I watched him leave once," his voice became low with a tinge of angry despair. "I lost him once, Sakura; I didn't want to lose him again…"

She closed her eyes as she tried to block out the look on his face. "Sasuke… I wanted you to be mine… I loved you…" a tear rolled down her cheek. "I wanted you to finally notice me. I thought after the talks that the hospital our bond was stronger. I broke that bond when I left for Kabuto. I have nothing left but memories," her eyes became ice cold as he voice started to match the glance at him. "And they're killing me… I want them to stop breathing. I want _you _to stop breathing!"

Sasuke's eyes widened at that saying. "So you're going to kill me?"

"I don't want anymore bonds. Why have bonds when you give everything up?" she asked grabbing a poison kunai. "Answer that, _Sasuke Uchiha_…"

"You've gone mad," Sasuke hissed as he curled his fist tighter. "I have no time for madness, nor do I have interest in watching you talk lies and untrue feelings," he slammed his fist to the ground. "I'm going to knock you out and bring you back to the village by force!"

She fell to the ground, remembering Itachi's strength. They had been training hard together, trying their hardest to be everything that Kabuto wasn't. They were hell-bent on destroying the Sound Village's mission, in turn they had became almost unmatchable. She tried to dodge it as he moved closer to her, trying to push his first to her face. One hit and it was going to be over.

Everything flashed before her eyes as she watched his movements, his hands desperately trying to lay a single hit onto her. Sasuke had grown since their last meeting, his left hand trying to hit at her, his right grasping his dagger. He was trying his hardest just to bring her back. It brought tears to her eyes as she watched him desperately try to bring her back to the village. It was depressing to know that he was still trying to care.

"Sakura!" he yelled as his foot hit her stomach, her breath coming to a complete stop. "Don't make this more difficult than it has to be. This doesn't concern you or me. It's in Itachi and Kabuto's hands now. We can turn back now, we can go back to the village and you can finally live the life you haven't had in months. Please Sakura, don't leave me alone…"

She grasped a senbon as her breathing started to become more regular. "You made yourself alone, Sasuke. You were the one who abandoned us!"

His eyes closed as he looked down at Sakura, his right hand dropping the dagger curling into a fist. _I never thought that I would have to use these techniques. They're not ready to be used efficiently, but they just have to be enough to knock her out. _He took a deep breath as he drew his arm back, hitting the ground below him, feeling the solid break as he pushed deeper. _That hole looks deep enough, now time to get to work!_

He took a deep breath as he started to make hand signs. "Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave," he spat water, starting to fill the hole, his scarlet eyes moving to look at Sakura. _Itachi taught me all of these techniques that I'm using against her, without his help this wouldn't have been possible. I never actually thought that Sakura was going to make me use water techniques. She's putting up more of a fight than I thought._

The hole was filled as he put his arms at his side looking across the basin at his fallen teammate. "Sakura, I will give you one more chance to come back to the village with me. In front of me I have a pool of water, and I know how to use it. Sakura," he extended his hand, "come with me…"

"I'd rather die," she scoffed as she watched him pick up the dagger. "You think that I'm going to crumble for you. I'm not that girl anymore; you can piss off if you think that I am!"

Sasuke closed his eyes. This was Sakura that he had to destroy. This was his old teammate. This was part of his past. How could he let her die? How could he give her up in a heartbeat? How could he let her go when he was trying so hard not to get her involved? This wasn't the Sakura that he knew. She never acted like this. Sakura was the first one who came to see him in the hospital, she was there everyday. Now she was only trying to kill him.

"Then you give me no choice," he started making more hand signs, watching her eyes still freezing him. "Water Style: Water Fang Bullet," the three columns of water rose from the basin, grasping Sakura, pulling her closer to the water. All he could hear was her screaming, her pleading to be let go. He couldn't let her go even if he wanted to. He wasn't going to let her leave again.

"Sasuke!" she yelled as they water dragged her into the basin, she was going under and all he could do was sit there and watch.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but you brought this upon yourself," he closed his eyes tighter as he walked to the edge of the hole. He was never going to let her leave the village again, not as long as he was there.

-----

He had to hurry; he could feel the presence of the nine-tails start to leave the path in front of him. Sakura had distracted him from what was really important: Kabuto. He cursed himself for using that much chakra on her. She wasn't worth his time; she wasn't worth all of the effort that he put into killing her.

_I should have killed her back there; _he looked back over his shoulder, a smile gracing his lips. _Maybe Sasuke is going to do that for me. After all, Sakura isn't going to give up that easily. After the fight she went through, she won't rest until Kabuto and I are dead. Figures, I always knew someone was going to get in to deep. I just never thought she would drown._

Sensing the presence of the tailed-beast, he landed on the ground looking around at the scene that he had dropped into. It was a complete clearing, unlike where he had been with Sakura, only a few trees surrounding him. In the distance, he could hear the Nakano River starting to filter out of Konoha, although he couldn't see it.

Taking a deep breath he started to walk forward, stopping as soon as he heard a noise. "I guess I finally made it," he turned around, looking at his opponent, "Kabuto, did you think that girl was going to keep me long?"

The Sound ninja took a step forward. "I see that you got out of that battle without a scratch. Not bad, Itachi, compared to how you've been fighting during this struggle, that's amazing," he dropped the unconscious body of Naruto to the ground. "You've come for this?"

"Give him to me, Kabuto," Itachi demanded as he pulled out a sai, his red eyes narrowing. "Unless you want to die right here."

"Big words for such a small person," Kabuto pulled out a senbon as he looked at him. "Think you can do this without your breathing stopping? Even though that brat healed you, you're still in pain, and you always will be…"

Itachi looked over at the unconscious boy. He promised that he was going to bring him back for Sasuke, he would be damned if he broke another one of his promises. This was his goal; this was what he always wanted to do even in the Akatsuki. Capture the nine-tails, be the one who takes him away from all opposition. It was his assignment; he wasn't going to let Kabuto be his replacement, not in this lifetime.

"Kabuto, you think too lightly of me," he curled his fist tightly as he pushed it to the ground, watching the other ninja fall to the dirt. "I'm different than I was before. No longer am I the person who you thought that you could beat. I'm strong."

Kabuto struggled to get up as Itachi pushed his foot to the ground knocking him over again. This battle was barely even starting, but if he kept this up for much longer, it was going to be almost over in no time at all. Itachi Uchiha was going to win this one, and Naruto Uzumaki would be saved.

_Sasuke… _Itachi pulled out a sai as he started walking toward the fallen medical ninja. _Hurry…_

-----

"Damn it!" he breathed as he watched Sakura get pulled back into the water. "Why do you keep fighting if you know that you can't win?" he gazed endlessly at the bubbles that were emerging to the top of the pool. "You're a sad creature, Sakura."

A shaking hand moved to grasp the side of the basin, Sakura starting to pull herself out. Sasuke didn't have the strength nor did he have the will to push her under again, he was frozen as he watched her cough up a mix of water and blood. He couldn't take the pain that she had been introduced to, it was just like Itachi. Soon she would start to choke on her own blood, not being able to properly function.

"Ready to die?" he asked as he watched her move out of the water. "Or are you going to listen to sense and let me take you back to the village where you belong?" he grasped his dagger. "Sakura, I could heal the wounds that you already have, I could make all of the pain disappear, but since you wont swallow your pride…" he closed his eyes reaching to touch her broke arm. "I don't want to see you go through the same pain that I watched by brother go through."

She closed her eyes. "Stop it, Sasuke," she moved away from his touch. "Did you think that I was going to wait forever for you? Did you think that I was going to wait for you to come back to me? I tried, I honestly did, but there was only so long that I could keep that up," her hand moved to her pouch as she pulled out a harmless kunai, her eyes closing tightly. "I can't do it anymore! I can't even look at you!"

She drove the kunai through his shoulder, blood falling to the ground, rolling to the water that was only a foot away from where they stood. The searing pain that was going through his body made him want to vomit, the same pain that Itachi gave him when he drove the kunai through this shoulder. He could feel his blood pressure start to drop slightly as he continued to bleed. Sakura was going to win this battle.

"Shit," he hissed as he fell face down at her side, clutching his shoulder. He closed his eyes tightly as he sensed the blade starting to draw nearer to his back; she was going to kill him. He could hardly move as he closed his eyes tightly, hearing her sob, feeling the blood rolling from his body. All he could do was lay there and shudder and wait for the moment to come.

Suddenly, Sakura froze in place, the kunai falling to the ground, stabbing the dirt only a few inches from Sasuke's head. He looked up at her to see the look of disgust and pain. He raised an eyebrow as he reached a hand out to touch her.

"I-Impossible," she whimpered as she struggled to move. "How did you?"

Sasuke's vision moved to what was below Sakura; it was a shadow that was stretching away from her. _No way in Hell! _He looked behind them, his eyes widening in shock as he saw four ninja looking straight at him. "You all came? What are you doing here? Run away!"

"We're here to bring you back, Sakura," one ninja stated as they stepped forward, pulling out a kunai. "I told you that I would bring you back to the village no matter what. I'm not going to let you have all of the attention."

Sakura laughed wickedly. "Ino? What are you guys doing here," but her attention was brought to the chuunin who was leading them: it was Iruka.

She thought that he was done for, that poison that Kabuto had made was one of the strongest ones that Sakura had ever seen in her life. She could have killed him, all because Kabuto wanted to kill all of Team 7. Now she was faced with one of her greatest sources of guilt. This was the Academy teacher who had told her what Kabuto was trying to do, the one who was going to die for all of them.

"_Get out of here, Sakura. Kabuto only wants to do one thing with you, Naruto, and Sasuke. He wants to bring you to the Sound Village to kill you! Orochimaru is going to…!"_

"Get your hands off of Sasuke," Ino commanded as she looked at what Sasuke had been reduced to. "Are you alright, Sasuke? Did she hurt you too badly?" she looked over at Sakura's condition. _There's no way that Sasuke could do that to Sakura, Itachi had passed through here, no doubt about it, and he was trying to kill her._

"I'm fine," Sasuke answered, starting to stand up; looking over at Sakura's shaking body. "We have to bring her back to the village, she losing too much blood and too injured to go on. I tried healing her, but she won't let me touch the wounds."

Chouji took a step forward. "Then I guess we're going to have to beat her down to bring her back…"

"Don't injure her too badly," Iruka breathed, placing a hand on Chouji's shoulder. "Remember what Kakashi said. No one on Team 10 or Team 7 is going to die, not under his control. Try to reason with her the best you can…"

Ino smirked as she looked at Sakura. "Alright team…" she stepped forward. "Battle Formation: Ino!"

"Shika!"

"Chou!"

Sasuke got to his feet, curling his hand into a fist. He was going to make it through this. He had to catch up to Itachi and aid him in the plan that they had made together. He told Naruto that he was never going to let him die; he said that he would destroy anyone who tried to bring him harm. He was on his way to that place where he would give everything just to get out of this battle with all that he had started with.

"Iruka?" Sasuke asked. "Do you inform when Kakashi is clear to come?"

"How did you…?" Iruka asked.

"Kakashi has wanted to save Itachi this whole time," Sasuke smiled. "And I think that I finally know why," he curled his fist tighter. "As soon as we defeat her, Iruka, I want you to tell Kakashi that he's clear to come out. It would be better if we had more people to move her, and we don't know if Kabuto has sent for anyone to gather her remains."

Shikamaru looked up at him. "You sure are taking control of this mission," his voice was still strained from trying to hold Sakura in place. "Since you want to be in charge, tell us what you want to do."

Sakura scoffed at Sasuke. "You think that these people can defeat me?"

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes. "I've gotten sick of you!" he pushed his fist to the ground, knocking Sakura over as well as Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji shaking, struggling for balance.

"Holy shit!" Chouji yelled as he fell down.

Ino's blue eyes were wide. "Wh-What insane strength…"

Shikamaru struggled to get off of the ground. "He's going to hurt someone with that one day; I guarantee it…" he watched as Sakura was able to move freely. "Alright Sasuke, your call…"

As soon as Shikamaru ended his sentence, Sasuke started making hand signs, his eyes never leaving Sakura for a second. All that they had been through together, now as he looked at her; it was like none of that mattered anymore. All of the times with Team 7 were like far off memories that they were slowly forgetting. _Sakura, _he slowed down the hand signs as he looked into her eyes. He remembered that her name was the first name that he had said while he was still unconscious between worlds. Slowly, his hands dropped to his side. "Sakura…" he said out loud as he looked at her, green eyes starting to soften as she dropped her weapon.

"What are you doing?" Chouji asked. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he tried to think about Sakura. She was nothing like the girl that he knew; it should be easy to kill her. He couldn't though; he was too weak to kill her even now. Yet seeing her suffer the way that she was made his heart wrench, made him want to grant her some sort of relief. He had made her into this, it was his fault she was confused.

"Sasuke?" Ino asked, looking at him. "What's wrong?"

"Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked.

"Sasuke?" Chouji questioned.

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled as he grasped his dagger. "Shut up, all of you," he looked back at them. "Don't you see? It's Sakura, even though part of me doesn't believe it, it's still Sakura in there," he grasped the handle tighter. "I don't know if I can hurt her…"

Sakura's eyes started to water. "S-Sasuke…" she moved closer to him.

_Crash! _As she stood there only a few inches in front of him, his fist met her stomach again, a tear rolling down his cheek. Another fist hit under her chin on the rebound, all Team 10 could do was watch as he continued to hit her, but not with chakra augmented strength: his regular hits.

"What's he doing?" Chouji asked.

Shikamaru looked at the way that the tears were falling down his face. He could have been like Sasuke was after they lost Asuma; he could have been so confused. Shikamaru was different; he had friends to lean on while all of Sasuke's friends had turned their back on him ever since the day that he was raped. Soon the village turned their back; the only person he could turn to was his rapist, now he had become this, he had finally found a path, finally found some guidance.

"Sasuke!" Ino yelled.

Sasuke continued to hit her until they both fell to the ground, tears still streaming down his face. "I'll break your other arm and legs if that means you'll stop this," he hit her again, biting at his lip. "Sakura!" he hit her once again. "You bitch!"

"He's going to kill her!" Chouji gasped. "Iruka-sensei! Go back to Konoha and tell them that this has gotten _really_ bad. Tell them that they need to come here now. Anymore delays and Sakura's going to be dead."

"Sasuke said…" Ino stated.

"If we wait until he's done with her, there might be too little time to save her," Chouji continued as he looked over at the sobbing Uchiha repeatedly hitting a young girl. "Iruka, we can take it from here, go on. Go!"

The chuunin nodded as he jumped into the trees, starting to work his way back to Konoha. Kakashi was going to be heartbroken once he heard this news; the news of his students trying to kill each other would probably kill him in turn. He would have to hurry.

"We have to stop Sasuke," Chouji stated. "Alright, we have to think of something."

-----

Naruto opened his eyes as he looked at the two people who were in front of him, he could recognize one as the person who had come into his apartment and capture him alongside Sakura. However, he looked at the other one and raised an eyebrow. He had never seen him before in his life. The presence of that man made his body tense as he stepped closer. As he did he caught a glimpse of something in his eye: the sharingan, the Uchiha kekkei genkai.

"Itachi?" Naruto asked weakly, his body unable to move. "Itachi Uchiha?"

Itachi looked down at him as he called his name. "You're going to be alright, Naruto," he pulled out a kunai, pointing it at Kabuto, his eyes moving to look at him. "How much poison did you put into him?"

Naruto took a deep breath. _Poison?_ He watched as the two ninja started to fight, Itachi blocking every single blow that Kabuto was trying to throw at him. All he could think of was the pain that he was causing both of them, seeing the fatigued look in Itachi's eyes; he had used a lot of chakra in a previous fight. This was all for him, he had everyone fighting and everyone in pain for him.

Kunai kept hitting each other as they looked into each other's eyes. Every blow was for him. As he looked at Itachi all he could see was what Sasuke had said. That was the man that was fighting for his freedom from Kabuto's hands. That was the one who had been training Sasuke for so long, the one who had made him so strong. This was what he had to thank for his and Sasuke's being alive.

"Itachi, you bastard!" Kabuto breathed as he grabbed hold of his left arm, leaving him open for an attack to his vitals. "I've had it with you getting in my way!"

A kunai thrust forward into Kabuto's stomach, Itachi's laughter filling the atmosphere, rising into a devious cackle as he pushed the kunai deeper. "What was that you were saying about watching me struggle?" he smiled as he scoffed. "You will never see me struggle. I won't give you that pleasure…"

"Then give me the pleasure of you dying," he sent chakra through Itachi's arm, the burning sensation going to his heart, almost stopping it right there. The younger ninja fell to his knees as he let go of his kunai. "I will watch you struggle, what I just did to you will change the battle will turn out."

"You're crazy!" Itachi winced clutching his chest.

"Every time your heart beats, it will send you deeper into a madness of pain," Kabuto smiled as he heard Itachi scream. "It will torment you until your heart stops, but it won't stop, that technique doesn't usually kill," he stroked the young ninja's face. "But it will make you want to die…"

Naruto watched as the sweat started to form on Itachi's body as he shook, dry heaving, small whimpers passing his lips, and all of that was his fault. He was the reason why this battle was going on. He was the reason why Itachi was going to hate his own pulse. He didn't deserve to live if only pain was going to follow him.

"I-I won't let you…" Itachi let out a low howl as his heart was still beating. "I-I won't let you win, Kabuto!" his crimson eyes were watering as he looked up at the medical ninja. "This pain will be nothing, once I kill you," he licked his lips. "We'll see who's going to struggle."

Naruto closed his eyes; he couldn't watch Sasuke's brother die. He looked into the trees praying that help was soon going to come. He hoped that Sasuke was on his way to save his brother. He hoped that he wasn't too late.

-----

Kakashi heard the door to the room open as he continued to look out the window. "Kakashi!" Iruka yelled, running closer to him. "You have to deploy the jounin now," he stopped when he was right behind him. "Kakashi?"

The jounin looked back at the chuunin. "What's wrong? Have you secured Sakura?"

Iruka shook his head. "No, but we have no choice but to send them now."

Before they could continue their conversation, the other three jounin walked through the door all looking straight at Kakashi. "Iruka?" Kurenai asked as she walked closer to them. "What's going on?"

"We need to send you guys out now," Iruka continued to say as he looked at Kakashi. The jounin was paying no attention to anyone, absorbed in the thoughts of his team as well as Itachi. Iruka knew that was the one that he was most concerned about. Itachi and Kakashi had something that he was larger than anyone thought in the past if he cared this much about him.

"Why?" Gai asked, looking straight at the chuunin. "What happened out there, Iruka?"

"Sasuke," Iruka started as he watched Kakashi flinch.

"What about Sasuke?" Kakashi asked as he turned to him. "What happened to him? Did you find him? Is he alright? Iruka, what the hell is going on out there? How is everyone?"

The chuunin took a deep breath. "Sasuke is trying to kill her," he took a deep breath. He watched as Kakashi looked away from him, closing his eye as he tried to think about what to do. "Itachi is nowhere in sight, my guess is he's already gone on to pursue Naruto."

"So we aren't sure if Naruto is still alive?" Kakashi asked, looking over at the chuunin. "Our goal is to separate Sasuke and Sakura, bring Sakura back as soon as possible and tell Itachi that Sasuke is coming back with us. I'll handle Itachi…"

"What about us, Kakashi?" Asuma asked as he looked straight at the younger jounin. "What roles do we play in this game of yours?"

Kakashi looked at each one of them and then turned back to the window, not wanting to look at them as he started to break hearing about what Sasuke and Itachi had done. They had broken off from one another and they were fighting two full scale battles with murderous intent. He had to think about how to stop this, prevent something happening to Itachi again. He wasn't going to let him go through pain again. This was going to be his apology.

"Asuma…" Kakashi stated lightly. "I want you to stay with me to help take care of Kabuto and secure Naruto. Gai and Kurenai, I want you to go straight to where Sasuke and Sakura are. I don't want anyone's lives to be lost," he placed a hand on his temple as sweat started to run down his forehead. Tsukuyomi was still getting to him; he was starting to break in front of everyone, barely able to breath. His time was drawing nearer, but he wouldn't die, not until he saw Itachi truly smile one last time.

He pressed his hand against the window as he closed his eyes. _I don't want him to die a monster, nor do I want to die thinking that he's one. I want to see who you really are just one more time, Itachi. One more time… _he closed his eye as he tried to focus. _Please…._

----

Sasuke hit her again as she continued to squeal at every hit, ignoring all of the screams that Team 10 was erupting with. All he could think of was how much he needed to bring Sakura back. Too long had she been away from them, too long had she been on her own. He had to do anything to bring her back, anything that he possibly could.

"Sasuke!" Ino screamed.

Sasuke closed his eyes as his hits started to get slower, his body not wanting to hurt her anymore. He had already lost Naruto, he could see him slowly leaving as he was detained here. It was always Naruto who went through the most. It was always Naruto who never got what he wanted. Sasuke was ignoring Naruto as he tried to save Sakura. There was no saving the both of them; it was either one or the other. Tears streamed down his face as he took his hands away from her body watching her cough, blood spattering through her lips.

"S-Sakura," he breathed as he looked into his teammate's eyes, looking at the blood that was on his hands. "Sakura, I'm sorry about everything that I put you through. I didn't mean to hurt you; I never wanted to get you involved in this. You were always so sweet, you were too good for me, you know you were. You were there when no one else had the guts to see me, and you still respected me. There were no condescending looks or remarks; you looked at me exactly the same way," he closed his eyes as her ran his fingers through her hair. "You were the only one who looked at me the same way. Yet when Itachi asked for your help, you gave it to him no problem; you saved his life gaining him at least a month of life. I never thought that you were going to be here…"

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked as she moved her arm to stroke his face. "I didn't know how to react. Kabuto said that he could save us all, I was confused… I…"

Team 10 took a series of steps forward as Ino looked down at Sakura. "Sakura," she closed her eyes, trying to fight the tears.

Sakura Haruno looked around at the people around her, especially at Sasuke. "Sasuke, please… don't waste your time here anymore…" she closed her eyes. "There's no need to fight me anymore. I don't have any reason to. I wanted to see if I could prove my worth by defeating Itachi, but he…"

"_Sakura, thank you, I never got to formally thank you for making this all possible. Thanks to your kindness back in the hospital room both Sasuke and I are both still alive. I want you to die that girl in the hospital room."_

"He wanted me to die the girl in the hospital room," she closed her eyes. "I don't want Naruto to die because I was too weak to stop Kabuto. Sasuke, I don't want to lose Naruto because I didn't want to make the effort to save him. When he fell unconscious he was mad at me. That's when I saw what I've become," her green eyes looked up into his eyes. "Save me…"

"I will," he moved to kiss her on the cheek. "I'll bring him back," he stood up looking back at Team 10. "Take care of her, for a while…"

Shikamaru looked at Sasuke standing in the sunlight, his eyes still watering, blood dripping from his hands. He remembered the smug kid who was in their Academy class, the one who got all of the answers right but never cared to receive praise for. Nothing was really important to him back then, now everything was different, he was different ever since that night months ago.

_"A boy was raped here, one who was your age. He might be able to walk now, communicate with his friends, but he's different. Everyone knows what happened; he lost his virginity to his brother in a way nobody should lose their virginity. He feels touched and worthless, but when a paper is ripped to shreds it can never be whole again, but with a little effort it can become something new, maybe even more perfect than before."_

Shikamaru nodded as he thought of his sensei's words that night, the ripped paper had become a new person, a better person than he was before. _But the ripped paper can only become something better if the one who destroyed it gave it something in return. It's Itachi's doing that he's like this. _He closed his eyes as he looked away from Sasuke. He was different then he was before. He was going to save them all from the Hell that the Sound Village had put Konoha through. Naruto was going to survive.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This chapter also made Sakura look like nothing, but after her fight with Itachi, she just wasn't in any condition to fight Sasuke. There are only four more chapters and there are no more fights with Sakura (even though she is still in bad shape), now more focus on the Kabuto fight. There is also a twist in this story SOMEONE IS GOING TO DIE! I can't tell you who yet. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Too much Sakura? Honesty is my policy. 


	40. Chapter 40

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that pertains to the anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter contains coarse language, major violence/blood, thoughts of homicide, thoughts of suicide, incest, yaoi, references to sexual activities, some yuri, subjects pertaining to death, OOC, and the canon is not a huge factor. There are also a lot of errors in here even though the chapter is shorter, and there's a surpise at the end of this chapter.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, some SasuNaru and SasuSaku, slight NaruSaku, a little KakaIta, references to ShisIta, a hint of InoSaku

* * *

Sasuke looked down at Sakura seeing her continue to bleed. After all of the time that they had spent apart, he had finally gotten her back onto his side. He was finally able to make all of the pain that he had on her part disappear forever. Standing up he looked off in the direction where Itachi went. Kabuto had gone that way, and he had Naruto. 

Naruto, why was he involved in this? All Itachi really wanted was Sasuke, but then the Akatsuki had realized what had just happened, they had given Itachi an opening to destroy them. Now everyone was starting to retaliate, there was no telling how many lives were going to be lost.

"What do we do now?" Chouji asked as he looked up at Sasuke. "We sent Iruka-sensei after the jounin and we still haven't secured Naruto…"

The Uchiha looked at the blood that was dripping from his hands, watching his fingers shake as he looked into the scarlet liquid. Was this all that was going to come from this mission? Was all he was going to see was the blood of those who were precious to him? He couldn't take it anymore, the hate that he had for blood was only growing. The very sight of it made him sick to his stomach, reminding him of all of the pain that he had witnessed that night. All he could think of was losing everything that was precious to him as he looked at blood, he didn't want to think of situations like that. He had to stay focused.

"Sasuke?" Ino asked as she walked up to him. "Is there something wrong?"

He looked over at her and then down at Sakura. "I'm glad to see that you got your friend back, Ino, I really am. You were right, it wasn't like Sakura to run off and walk on the wild side, that's why I'm glad she's back in our hands," he closed his eyes. "But Naruto…"

Sakura closed her eyes; Naruto wasn't going to make it through this if the Uchiha brothers didn't hurry. Kabuto had already gotten a head start, and the poison that was in Naruto's body was harming him, upsetting the way that the nine-tails made his body function. If he did die, he was going to die angry at her.

"_Fuck you! I don't give a damn about your Orochimaru, nor do I give a damn about Kabuto Yakushi or Itachi Uchiha. You make me sick, Sakura… you make me sick…"_

"I will bring him back," Sasuke closed his eyes. "I'm not going to let them win this. I'm not going to sit back here and watch as everything that is precious to me is taken away from me. I will never back down, not after I came this far," he clutched his shoulder tightly as he looked over at Shikamaru. "Wait here until the jounin come back, I'm going to save Naruto."

"Go to your brother," Shikamaru breathed as he walked toward Sakura and Ino. "We'll take care of Sakura; you're needed to bring Naruto back. Don't waste your time with us. You have a job to do."

Sasuke smiled as he nodded, looking off into the distance. _I'm coming, Naruto, hang on just a little longer, _he started to walk in the direction, closing his eyes. This was what it all came down to ever since that night, now he was on a one-way path to the battlefield. He had to do whatever it takes to get Naruto back to the village. He wouldn't let the Sound Village win, not after all of the pain that Itachi had gone through. This was going to end right now.

As he jumped into the trees, Sakura closed her eyes, tears falling down her face. She was the one who was wrong about all of this. She should have known that they weren't going to save Naruto. This was all a set-up, and she was attacking the only ones who were trying to save her from that fate. She was an idiot to think that she could try to go against the village; in the end Konoha was always right. She was a fool to think that she was able to go against them.

"Sakura?" Ino asked as she walked over to her best friend, picking up the Sound forehead protector on the ground. "I missed you, I missed you a lot," she closed her eyes as she held on tightly to the cursed bearer of the emblem of that bastard who had broken them up, the one who had caused all of this.

"Ino?" Sakura asked as she looked over at the pool of water. "Why didn't you guys come after me? Did the village even care that I was gone, or was it just Sasuke?"

The blond girl bowed her head. "We all did care, but there was nothing that the Hokage would let us do. We all wanted to come get you, honestly we did, but we were detained, the only one who could break the rules was Sasuke, he was with his brother…" she closed her eyes. "He didn't want to watch you die, he didn't want to watch you become a monster…"

"Monster?" Sakura asked as she dipped her hand in the water. "Is that what I've become? Nothing more than a monster," a tear fell into the liquid, creating a ripple that only grew larger with every passing second. "That's all that everyone can see now is all that I gave up to try to save them…" she closed her eyes. "I made a mistake."

"We all make mistakes," Ino argued as she looked at her best friend. "What you did was nothing too bad, you were being manipulated. You didn't know what he was trying to do, you were a victim."

A laugh filled the atmosphere. "Still I caused so much pain," she held out her hand, trying desperately to move the broken one as well. "I felt his blood on my hands, and I only pushed the dagger deeper. I almost killed one of the people I secretly wanted to protect, the one that I saved the life of in the beginning…" she closed her fist as she looked at the ripples. "I shouldn't have gotten involved," she closed her eyes. "I shouldn't have risked Naruto like that…"

Ino shook her head. "Naruto's going to be alright…"

"You can tell me that, but you don't know," she closed her eyes tighter as she started to sob. "Naruto loves me; I know that he still does. The reason why he never picked up the phone for me or opened the door wasn't because he didn't care about me; it was that he cared the most. He didn't want me to watch as he slowly grew weak and died. Ino, I was a fool."

Shikamaru sighed as he walked toward the crying girl. "Sakura, you didn't do anything wrong. No one has gotten too hurt yet. When you say that Naruto isn't going to make it you're doubting Sasuke's power. He can do it, I have faith in him. I know what his brother can do, I saw what he did to my sensei, I saw what he did to Kakashi. Now that I see what Sasuke can do with that strength, I know that he was teaching him. They're strong; they're going to make it."

Sakura looked down at the pool of water, pulling out a few of her senbon, clutching them tightly as she thought of all of the damage that had been caused. Sasuke, Iruka, and Naruto had all had this new poison running through their veins, this deadly poison that could only result in death. There was no telling when it would win.

She dropped them into the water, closing her eyes tightly as she remembered being pulled down into the pool multiple times, the glow of the sharingan still going through her mind. Sasuke and Itachi tried different routes to get her out of the way, now she wished that Itachi had killed her so she wouldn't to have seen Sasuke in so much pain. She wished she had died, she wouldn't have to watch as a plan that she helped create went into action. She was an idiot to do all of this.

_Naruto, I'm sorry, _she closed her eyes tightly as she tried to remember his face. _I'm so sorry that it had to end this way… I'm sorry that you had to get involved in all of this, _she touched the water again. _Please forgive me…_

-----

Kakashi looked down at his hand as he thought about what he was going after, it was Itachi. After all of these years he thought that maybe one day he would be able to hold Itachi in his arms again as he watched that smile light up, he never thought that it would be now. He couldn't see Itachi being happy to see him anymore, the hate in his heart being way too harsh for him to bear.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright handling Itachi?" Asuma asked, looking into the younger jounin's eye. "I mean, the last few times he was around you, he didn't seem like he was too pleased with your presence."

"I want you to be concerned about Kabuto," Kakashi answered as he curled his hand into a fist. "I can handle Itachi. I handled him back in the days of ANBU, I can handle him now."

There was a short silence before Asuma spoke up again. "What exactly did you do to him? Why does he hate you so much? No one hates anyone as much as he does you. I've never even saw Sasuke like that back when he wanted to kill his brother. Itachi holds some resentment for you…"

Kakashi closed his eyes as he remembered the times he used to embrace the young boy, he was so fragile, only thirteen. He could still see the bruises on his body as he watched him get dressed, the scars that covered him. He questioned every single one only to hear the young boy say that he got into a fight with someone in the village, it wasn't a big deal. Kakashi knew better, even now as he saw those fake smiles he knew better. Itachi had been abused for too long; it was about time that he got what he wanted without consequence.

"I don't know," Kakashi answered as he straightened out his vest.

As Asuma was about to say something, the other two jounin walked up to them. "We're already hours behind; I don't know if Itachi is going to hold off that long. Do you think that Kabuto has gotten that far?" Gai asked as he looked at Asuma. "We should try to take it easy though, you two still aren't in the best condition…"

"I'm fine," Asuma answered as he stood up, looking at Kakashi. "Kakashi? Are we ready to go?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Wait," Gai said quickly as they started to walk toward the gate. "Kakashi, the last thing that I want is to watch you die because of all of this. If you feel as though you won't be able to go on, tell us. We don't want to lose you."

"Nothing is going to happen," Kakashi breathed as he closed his eyes tightly thinking about all that he had to accomplish. "I'm the only one who can talk to Itachi; I'm the only one who could slightly reason with him."

"You've never reasoned with him before," Gai argued as Kakashi kept walking. "All he does is hurt you, he almost killed you. Do you want to talk to someone who tried to do that to you? Do you want to be with a person who will continue to abuse you? Kakashi, he will destroy you if you get too close."

"You don't know what that boy does to me, you don't know how I feel when I look into his eyes and see nothing deep within them, Gai," Kakashi answered quickly, not looking back at them. "I want to see something within his eyes one last time, one last time before this kills me," he touched his chest lightly. "I know that this condition is going to kill me, I know that my days are most likely numbered if I go into combat. I don't care…" he closed his eye. "I won't let him die a monster…"

Gai shook his head closing his own eyes. "Then we'll let you do it," he started to walk toward the gate. "We need to try to make as good of time as we possibly can. We've been lazy for too long, time to take action," he smiled as he looked back at them. "Let's try to make it in half the time…"

"What happened to me being injured?" Asuma asked with a sigh.

"Asuma, it's no use getting through to him," Kurenai sighed as well as she moved closer to the said jounin.

Kakashi looked at all three of them, standing together in front of him. All of them had their troubles along the way, trying their hardest to support different ideas, some of which conflicted horribly. Some of them made sacrifices that no one should ever make, while others could only sit back and watch as the ones that they called comrades fought one another. All he could see where three different worlds finally connecting after a long absence, and together they were going to save the village.

"Thank you," Kakashi stated. "All of you…"

Together, they started to walk toward the village gate not looking back at what they were leaving behind. Some of them might not make it back, but Kakashi had promised himself that he would die, not until he saw something in those eyes other than hate. Not until he got through to Itachi.

-----

He doubled over with pain as he clutched at his chest. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take before he died. The agonizing sensations that were rolling with his pulse made him want to make it all stop; run himself into his own blade. Yet as he looked back at what he was trying to protect he closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to glance up into Kabuto's eyes.

"Hurt?" the Sound ninja asked as he tried to hold back his laughter. "I can see that my technique has wounded you. Why don't you just give up? Every time you try to use chakra you only hurt yourself. Do you want to die a meaningless death that much, looking like a weakling who didn't know how to cease his own pain."

Itachi curled his hand into a fist trying to concentrate chakra into it, a shock moving throughout his heart as it stopped for a split second. "Fuck!" he fell to the ground, his hand harmlessly hitting the dirt.

"Oh," Kabuto breathed as he looked down at the fallen ninja. "Too bad that you're too weak to help defend that boy, it looks like I won this round, Itachi. It was a good run, but it's over now. You may have won most of the battles, but in the long run the war was lost. Now you have nothing but your own shame, just like the night with Shisui died."

Itachi's eyes widened as he heard him mention that name. Shisui, he was the reason why Itachi had tried so hard to survive all of this time, he was the reason why he did everything that led up to his return to Konoha. He felt the Akatsuki ring digging into his chest as he tried to move. Everything was screaming at him to get up and take this pain, he couldn't die here.

He could see the Akatsuki laughing as he tried to get back up off of the ground; he was too weak to even support a little pain when he said that he could give up anything. He was a weak liar, a microscopic insect on the grand design of their power. There was no telling what he was worth, or if he was worth anything at all. He continued to rise from the ground his black eyes looking into Kabuto's.

"I'm going to destroy you," Itachi breathed, gathering chakra into his fist, slamming it into Kabuto's abdomen, watching him fall to the ground, a trail of blood following him. As he watched what was happening to his opponent, he clutched at his chest tightly, his heart burning throughout his chest.

He collapsed to the ground as he tried to ease his shuddering body, trying to direct the pain to move elsewhere in his body, but it was no use, all he could do was sit there and wait for his death to come to him. He could feel Kabuto's blood roll down his face, trying to ease the pain of him giving up his life. He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to ignore everything that was going on around him, his heart speeding up with anticipation causing him to howl again.

He threw his fist at the ground, cracking it just a small bit as the electrical impulses were still going through his chest. "I-I won't let you have Naruto," he took a deep breath reaching for his sword. "You'll have to kill me first," he pulled out the weapon as he looked over at Kabuto. "This pain is nothing compared to what I've been through…"

"You say that now," the medical ninja coughed, struggling to get to his feet. "But when your heart stops, you won't be acting so tough," he grasped a poisonous senbon, his shaking hand moving to aim it at the half paralyzed ninja. "Let me do you a favor and put you out of your misery."

Itachi still clutched his chest feeling his heart start to speed up, sparks of pain lighting his body ablaze. Everything was getting numb as he watched the senbon come toward him. He closed his eyes as he tried to move, his heart burning at the trial, more sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Stop it!" a voice called out as a kunai soared through the air, knocking the senbon out of the way. "Don't you dare touch him. I'll kill you!"

Itachi tried to breathe as he looked into the corner of the battlefield, trying to catch his breath. "Took you long enough…" he took another deep breath. "Sasuke…" he coughed harshly again.

Sasuke laughed lightly. "I had to clean up your mess."

"Sasuke Uchiha?" Kabuto chuckled. "You're too late. Look at your brother, take a good hard look at him and tell me what you see…"

The younger Uchiha looked down at Itachi, watching him desperately trying to catch his breath. He could see the sweat running down his skin, his body shaking as he clutched at his chest. Sasuke could see that something was wrong and that bastard Kabuto was the one who had done this to him.

"Itachi?" he ran to his brother's side. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

The older Uchiha struggled to move, clutching his chest. "He's not as tough as you think he is, Sasuke."

"But yet you were knocked down so easily?" Sasuke scoffed.

Itachi couldn't answer as another surge of pain went through his chest. "Damn it!" he fell forward, coughing as he closed his eyes tightly, hearing Sasuke gasp in shock as he did so, his hand moving to stroke the crest on his back.

"Itachi!" he screamed, gripping the fabric of his shirt. "What's wrong? What's happened to you? What did he do to you?" he looked over at Kabuto. "What the hell is going on here?"

The Sound ninja laughed as he looked at his work. "If you must know, Sasuke, I transformed my chakra into electrical impulses and moved them through the nerves in your brother's arm right into his heart. Now every time that he uses chakra, he's going to get closer to dying. There is nothing that will be able to dull that pain," he smiled wider. "So do your big brother a favor, take your dagger and run it through his chest. It's what he wants…"

"Itachi?" Sasuke breathed, feeling his brother shake. "You bastard! I should kill you for what you did to my brother!" he grasped his dagger. "You think you can break us apart and then force me to kill him? I could never, I would never, I can't do what he wants if that is his wish," he closed his scarlet eyes. "I will not be the one to end his life, not after I fought so hard to keep him alive."

"Then you are sentencing him to a painful death," Kabuto smiled as he watched Itachi struggle to get back up. "Do you think that you can do anything to me, Itachi? In your condition you're lucky if you can even stand."

The older Uchiha stood up as he looked straight into the eyes of his opponent, water trailing down his face as he took a step closer. "To watch you die, to watch all of them suffer, this pain," he started making hand signs, "means nothing." He ended on a tiger seal. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."

Kabuto watched as the fire started coming closer to him, there was no way that he would be able to use enough chakra to do that. He thought that Sakura would wear him down indefinitely. This wasn't worn down in the least bit; he was still able to throw this attack at him. No matter how he tried, Itachi was going to get over the pain fast.

"I won't stand here and let you walk all over me," Itachi took a deep breath, curling his fist again. "I'm not going to let you stand here and make me look like an idiot," he smashed his fist to the ground, the shockwave knocking Kabuto over. "It's going to be all over for you!"

Sasuke watched as his brother used Body Flicker to move closer to Kabuto, throwing punches at him, watching as the Sound ninja wasn't even trying to fight back. Blood was pouring from flesh as Itachi pushed the fight to the ground, the ground shaking; Kabuto was losing too much blood.

"Sasuke?" a voice called from the side of the battle. "What's going on here? What are you two doing?"

The younger Uchiha looked over to see the voice belonged to his best friend who was nothing more than a feeble and weak boy on the ground, trying his hardest not to look at the fight. It had been a while since he had seen him, been a while since he was able to talk to him. Now was his chance to save him.

"Naruto," Sasuke breathed, running to his side. "It's alright, I'm here now. I'm going to take you away from this place," he started to lift him off of the ground when he felt a sudden pain in his back, the feeling of blood dripping down his shirt.

All he could hear was Naruto scream as he fell limp on top of him, shaking with pain. Sasuke's hand trailed to behind him to pull the kunai that was lodged into his back, whimpering as the pain surged through him. Kabuto might have been busy with Itachi, but he had enough of an opening to hurl a kunai at the young boy.

"You want a fight?" Sasuke asked, looking at the Sound ninja who was still being held down by Itachi. "If it's a fight that you want from me, then that's what you're going to get," he pulled out his dagger as he limped toward him, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I'm going to save Naruto."

Naruto looked up at his best friend. _Pain, that blood that's running down his skin, that scar that's forming on his back, that's all because of me. Sasuke's taken so much just to save me and Sakura and that's not fair, it's not fair that he has to risk his life for me, for an abomination._

He closed his eyes as he watched Sasuke move closer to Kabuto. He was giving everything that he had to make sure that his teammates were going to be alright. They had turned on him, but he still cared about them, trying to guide Itachi down a path that wouldn't kill either of them. Sasuke was always so distant, trying to make it seem like he didn't care about his team, brushing them off as weak, but now he could sit around and watch them die. A ninja is only a real ninja when they have someone to protect and to support, he was a real ninja.

"I'll kill you!" Sasuke breathed as he ran to Itachi's side, driving a fist into Kabuto's face, blood soaking his hand, his body shaking lightly. "You fucking bastard! Let Naruto go! He has nothing to do with you! You've lost this battle!"

Kabuto chuckled. "Have I, little Itachi?" he watched Sasuke snarl when he said that, Itachi's eyes narrowing. "Or is _little Shisui_ more appropriate?"

"Go to Hell!" Itachi breathed as he pulled out a sai. "He's not like Shisui…"

Kabuto laughed. "Whatever you say… disgusting insect."

The sai ran through Kabuto's chest, Itachi's eyes transforming into the same blood red that was deep within them before. "You want to play that game, Kabuto? You want to see what I can really do to you? I don't want to waste the mangekyou sharingan on you. But I will end this quickly."

Sasuke watched as he brother tightened his grip on the other ninja, his eyes widening as he looked straight at what was going on. That was a shadow clone; he was going to use _that _technique. Sasuke ran back to Naruto's side shield him with his body as the clone detonated, branches moving through the air, hitting him in his already bloody back.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled as he heard him cry out in pain. "Leave me! You have to get out of here!"

Sasuke took a strangled breath. "I'm not going to leave here without you. I'd rather die then lose you to this man. I worked to hard to let him win; I've given up too much to let you die."

"But you promised you wouldn't die," Naruto argued. "If you die here, everything that you ever said to me will be bullshit. You can't die on me."

The dirt finally cleared as the battle between Kabuto and Itachi continued the clash of metal filling Sasuke's ears to no end. Blood was rolling from both of their bodies as Itachi struggled to breathe, the electrical impulses in his heart still being messed up from Kabuto's attack. Sasuke could see the sparks as the katana clashed with a kunai, their eyes never leaving one another's. He couldn't let Naruto get involved.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he grasped a sai with his other hand. "Get Naruto out of here and get back to Konoha, I can take care of this," he slashed the sai against Kabuto's face, blood falling from the wound. "Get out of here."

"I'm not leaving without you, Itachi," Sasuke panted as he extended his hand in his brother's direction. "I'm not going to let you die here. I gave everything to you; I did everything that you wanted me to. I'm not going to leave because you think this isn't safe, I'm not going to leave here without you."

"Don't be stupid," Itachi groaned as he pushed a fist into Kabuto's stomach. "This place has gotten too dangerous. I can handle this, you save your friend," he pushed the katana through Kabuto's shoulder, the older ninja howling in pain. "Get out of here!"

Sasuke grasped the dagger as he stood up, looking straight at the fight that his brother was going through, staring at his hand. "Itachi," he closed his eyes. "I watched you start to die once; I felt your heart stop beating under my fingers. I saw your blood cover that cursed room. I'm not going to let you die here, if I can't kill you no one can."

He ran toward the fight, Itachi's crimson eyes widening blankly as he watched his younger brother move closer. He tried to tell him to stop, but he couldn't find the air supply as his lungs froze a surge of pain rolling through his chest. His eyes watered as he still tried to tell him to stop.

"I won't let you die!" Sasuke breathed, extending the dagger to move in front of him. "I don't want to watch as you're taken away from me."

"Stop it!" Itachi gulped as he felt his lungs start to give out, a cough passing his lips, saliva falling to the ground as he did so, his whole body wracked with tremors. "Don't come closer, Sasuke, I can handle this."

Sasuke looked at his brother; he was defenseless on the ground as he tried to catch his breath, his hand up against his neck, concealing the faint love bites that graced his flesh. As he looked at the blood that was rushing to his cheeks, the blush of pain, he could only see the romance that was there before. He didn't want to end everything that they had, it had just started, it was too soon to give it up.

"Stop it," Itachi breathed as he slammed a harmless fist to the ground. "Get Naruto out of here, please," his watery eyes looked up into Sasuke's. "Please… just do what I tell you and get him out of here."

Sasuke ran to his side, placing a hand on his back. "Itachi."

The older Uchiha coughed again. "I told you to run…"

"I won't run," Sasuke breathed, rubbing his brother's back. "You didn't run from me when I was in trouble in the woods," he took hold of his chin, feeling the sweat rolling down his flesh. "I don't want to lose you."

He kissed his lips lightly, hearing Itachi's breathing solidify. Together they would be able to take Kabuto and then no one would get left behind. It would be a perfect plan, a plan without a single flaw. With that in mind, Sasuke clutched the dagger tighter, looking up at Kabuto.

"You're going to pay for this," Sasuke hissed.

"How are you going to do that? You're nothing more than a shadow of a dying ember," he pointed at Itachi. "Nothing more than a slave to the one that you once hated, you're only a pawn in this game," he smiled. "So I'll take you out and attack your king."

Sasuke looked down at Itachi, watching his start to get control over his breathing, his eyes looking over at Naruto. "Take him away from here, Sasuke. I will take care of Kabuto. You did enough; you did your part in this plan. Now your job is to get Naruto out of here."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Shut up, Itachi… don't order me around."

The older Uchiha's voice was thick with anger. "You will do what you're told, Sasuke. You are going to save your friend and I'm going to risk my life to save the village."

They looked at each other deeply; Sasuke saw something in Itachi's eyes: loss. Itachi was going to die here, he knew that, but like the proud being he was, he wasn't going to let Sasuke watch as he died. He didn't want Sasuke to see the start of the storm that would start after his death; he didn't want him to feel as the rain of sorrow would start to fall.

"You don't have anything to risk your life for," Sasuke breathed. "Don't be so quick to destroy yourself and give everything away," he grasped the dagger tighter as he looked straight at their opponent. "I won't stand for it."

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he grabbed a sai. "We'll take Kabuto out first, then we'll recover Naruto," he gripped the handle tighter as he looked over at his younger brother. "Shall we begin?"

They moved closer to Kabuto both of them going different ways. Quickly, before their eyes could even pick it up, Kabuto grabbed Sasuke's arm, his other hand moving to push at Itachi's chest, a splash of blood passing his lips.

For a second everything froze as Sasuke could feel it rolling down his face, it was blood. He could feel his own blood run cold as it touched his lips, the taste of metal seeping through the opening. Tremors went through his body as his heart raced his stomach churning as he loosened his grip on the dagger. His red eyes faded to black as he almost dropped his weapon.

Kabuto looked at the young boy. "Hemophobia?" he smiled as he watched Sasuke continue to shake. A laugh passed his lips as he grasped the boy's other arm, the dagger being hurled through the air landing right in front of Naruto.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

"Sasuke!" Itachi gasped, watching his brother fall, his breathing loud and labored. "Sasuke!"

Kabuto pushed the boy to the ground, pulling out a kunai. "You think that you can defeat me?" he stepped closer to him, looking down at the young boy, seeing his eyes widen as more blood rolled down his face. "All you can do is sit here and shake in fear. Let me help you out of the daze, Sasuke. Let me help you rid yourself of all of this useless pain."

The kunai moved closer to him as he continued to shake. He waited for the kunai to hit him as he tried to move but failed. He would rather have himself die then watch what was going to happen to Itachi as he looked at his trouble breathing. Everything grew blurry as he felt the kunai only a few inches away. It was time.

That's when he felt another splash of blood and a gasp of shock. Opening his eyes, he saw his brother in front of him, the kunai embedded in his left arm, the muscles shaking from the wound. Sasuke panted as he looked at the scene, the blood still rolling down his face from the gash that was on Itachi's arm.

Everything clouded; once again he could feel the night when he was trying his hardest to save him as time was soaring away. That night he was so afraid that he was going to lose everything, his own life starting to end as he envisioned himself bleeding next to him. All of the blood mixed with the blood of his parents, as well as the blood from the woods, as well as all of the blood that Itachi had been losing earlier until it was a deep pool of fear. He thought of everything he had been through as he arm extended to touch Itachi, feeling him shake once again.

"I-Itachi?" he watched as the kunai was extracted from his arm. "Itachi!"

The older Uchiha fell to his knees in front of Sasuke, grasping his forearm, glancing back at him with his peripheral vision. "Are you alright?"

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed as he looked at the blood, his body shaking, the thought of that liquid running from Itachi's lips coming back to his mind. He let out a low howl as he closed his eyes.

A finger moved to stroke the blood away from his face. "It's alright, Sasuke," he looked down at his arm, watching it shake with pain, letting out a low cry of pain. "It's going to be alright," he wrapped his right arm around him, pulling him closer to his shaking body. "Sasuke…"

Naruto looked straight at the brotherly reunion, the way that both of them were shaking up against one another, Sasuke's face buried in his neck as he tried to calm down, blood being wiped from his face. Naruto had caused all of that pain to them. It was because of him that Sasuke had developed all of the fears and pains that he had. He was nothing more than an abomination; he was nothing more than a burden.

Throughout this whole time, what had Naruto ever done? He wasn't there when Sasuke needed him in the hospital, he wasn't there to save him from Itachi that night, he wasn't there to help him with Sakura, he was never there for him. Now when he could be there for him, he knew he couldn't, and he never would be. He looked down at the dagger that was in front of him, his fingers being drawn to it.

He took hold of it, tightly gripping the handle. _Sasuke, _he closed his eyes as he struggled to stand up, still holding the dagger tightly, his blue eyes closing. The blade was shaking in his hands as he saw the two brothers in front of him. He could see the tears in Sasuke's eyes as he whispered Itachi's name, the Sound ninja behind them giving them a curious look. The dagger almost fell out of his hands.

_I'm expendable, _he thought as he tightened his grip on Sasuke's weapon. _If it weren't for me, they wouldn't even be in this mess; _he moved the dagger so the blade would point at him, his eyes closing tightly. He couldn't stand to look at the sight that he was seeing.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke asked, looking over at him, seeing a glimpse of something metal. "Naruto?" he then knew what it was, it was his dagger. "Naruto!"

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Don't look at me; don't look at what caused you so much pain…" he shook his head. "You don't deserve it; you made a mistake… let me correct that mistake…"

He pushed the dagger into his chest, a small gag passing his lips as his body filled with pain. Blood fell from his chest to the ground, as he collapsed to his knees, his eyes looking up to the sky, tears rolling down his cheeks, as a laugh passed through his lips, a smile on his face. He took his hands off of the dagger as he fell against the tree, still grinning with empty eyes.

"I want to make you happy, Sasuke," he coughed, blood passing his lips. "Tell Sakura that the pain is over now… you can all go back to the village and stop fighting…" he closed his eyes. "You can all be…" his voice became breathless as his body became loose. "… fr-free."

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked as Itachi released him, the older Uchiha's body shaking as he looked at the dagger lodged in the nine-tail's chest. "Naruto?" he moved closer to his side crawling on his knees, trying not to look at the sight of his blood. He closed his eyes as he got to his best friend's side, grabbing hold of his body.

Itachi's eyes closed tightly. "That damn dagger," his hands curled into fists. "You got what you wanted, are you happy now?" he looked up to the sky, closing his eyes in anger as he slammed his fist to the ground. "Are you happy Shisui? Are you?"

Kabuto looked at what was going on, closing his eyes tightly. _They're going to kill me when they find out about this. I failed the mission._

Sasuke shook Naruto's body as he closed his eyes trying to fight the tears, holding onto the handle of the dagger. "Naruto?" he took a deep breath as he tried to defeat the sobs that were threatening him, his red eyes burning brightly as he reopened them. "Naruto!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that this chapter was kind of rushed and the fight between the Uchiha brothers and Kabuto was kind of weak, but both of them are at their limits, especially Itachi. There are only three more chapters after this and then it's all over, it was fun writing this, I enjoyed it. SOMEONE IS STILL GOING TO DIE! So what did you think? Good? Bad? Sad because the end is coming closer? I love honesty. 


	41. Chapter 41

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that pertains to the anime/manga

**Warnings: **This chapter contains extreme blood/violence, extreme coarse language, references to sexual situations, suicide, thoughts of homicide, yaoi, incest, dark themes, references to rape, talk of death, charecter death, OOC, and the canon is now no longer with us (well it is, but just barely). This chapter is also longer than the last few, but there are a lot of errors in here, sorry about that. The answers to two questions will be in here: who dies? and what happened between Itachi and Kakashi.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, KakaIta, some SasuNaru, references to ShisIta, slight NaruSaku, a trace of ItaKabu

* * *

Blood was falling from his chest, the dagger to the side still soaked with the newly drawn fluid. His face was growing pale as his breathing started to slow down dramatically, more blood seeping from his wounds. It was just like that experience with Itachi, identical to the most pain that Sasuke had ever been through. Only this time, it was difficult to work up enough chakra to save him. He couldn't see straight as he tried to get past the fact that Naruto was bleeding out underneath him. The clock was ticking. 

"That was my mission," Kabuto hissed as he looked over at Itachi. "It was my mission to bring him to your organization and it was working before _you_ came along."

Itachi looked over at the scene between his brother and the fallen nine-tailed fox. "You don't even believe that lie Kabuto," he closed his eyes as he heard the Sound ninja gasp. "You were never going to bring him to the Akatsuki; you were going to kill him on the way there."

Sasuke pressed his hands up against Naruto's chest. "Come on," he closed his eyes tightly as he realized that he had used too much chakra when fighting against Sakura. He had overdone it for the easy obstacle, letting Naruto down along the way. "Don't do this," he started to cry. "Naruto, please don't do this."

Everything that they had been through was soaring away from Sasuke's memories even though Naruto was still with him. He had been through so much with this team, yet in an instant, everything that he had once held dear was taken away from him, leaving only the deadly silence of loneliness. Once again he was left alone while everyone else was carrying on with their lives.

"Please," Sasuke breathed, closing his eyes tightly. "Please don't do this," his voice was tight as he continued to scream. "Naruto!"

Itachi looked over at him and took a deep breath. "Sasuke," he closed his eyes tightly. "Get a hold of yourself!" the younger Uchiha whimpered as he tried to wipe the tears from his eyes. "Take Naruto away from here," Itachi demanded. "I can take care of this on my own."

"But you're still wounded…" Sasuke breathed.

"What do you take me for? A weakling who can't take a little blood loss?" he shook his head. "I can handle this from here, go away from here and try to save Naruto; I'll catch up to you…"

Sasuke nodded as he picked his best friend up, starting to walk away. _Please, don't let me lose either of them. Don't let Itachi die here. Don't take Naruto away from me. _He looked back one time to see his brother rising to his feet, taking hold of a kunai; he couldn't have left the fight in better hands.

"You think that you can beat me, Itachi?" Kabuto asked as he looked into the younger ninja's eyes. "I will bring something to Orochimaru even if it's you. He still craves your body and his insatiable hunger will not be fulfilled until you come to him. He wants to taste the wonders of that body of yours."

"You can tell him that he can go to Hell," Itachi breathed as he tightened his grip on his weapon. "Why don't you just leave, Kabuto? You failed your special mission. Why don't you go back to the Sound Village and explain to the Akatsuki why the fox is dead. What will you tell them?"

"I can sum up what happened to the fox in two words," Kabuto answered with a smile. "Itachi Uchiha…"

-----

The sound of water rushing filled their ears as he laid Naruto by the river, starting to unzip his jacket. The wound was deep, blood pouring furiously as he tried to work up enough chakra. Thoughts of the look on Naruto's face as he ran the dagger through his chest came to Sasuke's mind, he was smiling. A tear passed through his eyes as he tried to focus on the task at hand, he would have to save Naruto before he died.

He touched his hand, remembering the night when he almost killed him, the night when he was desperate enough to do anything for Itachi. Now that he saw what it was really like to lose your best friend, he knew he was a fool.

As more blood poured out, the colder Sasuke became, the more he wished that he could just leave this mess wake up in his bed as a child and realize this was all a dream. He didn't know Naruto, he didn't know Sakura, he didn't know Kakashi, his clan was still alive, and Itachi wasn't what he had now become. He wanted that to be the case, but it never would be.

"Naruto," he breathed, closing his eyes. "I don't want to lose you. I don't want you to die like this," he shook his head. "I didn't want this; I didn't want any mistakes corrected. I came all of this way for you, Naruto, all of this way just to save you from the pain that you were destined to go through."

He looked at the river, pain returning to his wrists, he remembered the start of this. The night when Itachi tested him, the night when he was thrust into a world that he didn't want to be part of. He was now in the world that Itachi was always in, the world where he couldn't get attached to anything, because the second that he did, it's going to be gone. That world was the world of pain that everyone was trying to avoid ever since Itachi came back, the path that Itachi told him not to walk. He had stumbled upon that cursed path, but every step that he took, the path back to the start was clearing. There was no turning back, he could only move forward now.

Why did he try? Why did he bother with trying to keep his teammates out of this? It happened anyway. He should have stopped trying long ago, but there was a voice in the back of his head telling him that he had to continue fighting, he had to attempt to save their lives. He should have stopped listening to himself, he didn't know anything. His worst fears had all come to life; everything that he wished would never happen had been happening. He was raped by Itachi, he had given up his dream, he had watched as his sensei's dignity was stripped from him, he watched as his brother slowly died, he had to almost kill Naruto, he watch his teammate run away from the village on her way to one of the most feared villages in the Bingo Book, he had felt a dagger run through his chest and watched his brother break down, he had watched as Naruto became a distant member of his life, barely talking to him, he had to revive his brother when he was an inch away from death, he had to beat Sakura up, and now he had just witnessed his best friend trying to take his own life. This had to be a nightmare. There was no way that this was all true, he had to still be sleeping. This was all a bad dream. He had dozed off at the edge of the Nakano River and was going to awaken to his teammate's smiling faces. Closing his eyes, he hoped that to be true.

But the pain that was running through his body made it not a dream, it was obvious now, this had all really happened. He didn't pass out because of a mixture of ramen and cold air. He had been awake ever since the time where he tried to fight Itachi, everything that happened was too real. He almost died.

"Naruto," he breathed, closing his eyes tightly. "I don't know what to do…" he pressed his hands to his best friend's chest. "I don't want this. I don't want you to do this to yourself," he tightened his grip on his shirt, his other hand trying to find a heartbeat.

Feeling closely to his chest, he could feel the pulsations, he could feel his best friend continue to live. Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he tried to gather enough chakra, moving his hands to rest on his best friend's chest. He was going to save him even if it wound up killing him. As he did so, he felt a weak hand grasp his wrist.

"Stop it," Naruto breathed, coughing lightly. "S-Sasuke… pl-please…" he gasped harshly. "Don't try to f-fix this…" he closed his eyes lightly, blood passing from his lips. "I-I wanted this…"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I'm not going to watch as you die…"

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," Naruto laughed as he looked into his friend's eyes, watching as they watered violently. "We never ask for the ones close to us to go through pain. I never asked you to go through all of this, but it made you so happy to be able to do that. I-it…" he swallowed harshly, his body shaking, "m-made you happy to experience life with Itachi, you've become a better ninja."

"None of that matters," Sasuke breathed softly, looking at the loosening hand that was on his wrist. "None of that matters if you die here right now. I don't want to lose you, Naruto. I don't want to see you suffer…"

The dying fox smiled lightly, tightening his grip on his friend's hand. "I'm not going to suffer anymore. You gave me a choice once, you told me," he coughed harshly; his body shivering as more blood ran down his lips. "You told me that I could either die or live in fear, I made my choice… I want to die…"

The Uchiha's heart stopped in his chest as he heard those words. "Why? Is it because you think that you're an abomination? A burden? Because you think that all you do is cause pain?" he shook his head. "Why would you even think that, Naruto? Why would you think for a second that I wanted you dead?"

"It's not always a-about you, S-Sasuke," Naruto panted, small tremors running through his body, the wind starting to take his life with it as every breeze made him weaker, like a leaf rolling through the sky. "I wanted to do this because I can't go on seeing you throw your life away. Th-that man, I-Itachi," he closed his eyes. "He's dedicated to you, he would throw everything away for you, but he wouldn't have to if I was never here… I'm the reason why your brother was dying…"

The wind swept one of Sasuke's tears away, dragging it to the river with a single plop. "I was the one who almost killed him, because I wanted to be strong enough to kill him. I put everything I could into that hit, and still he didn't die. I'm glad that he didn't because now I can't imagine my life without him," he looked down at his best friend, his crimson eyes sparkling sharply as he tried to fight the tears. "I didn't want to lose anyone, especially not you…"

"I made my choice…" Naruto sputtered, more blood passing his lips. "The nine-tails is suppressed by the poison that is running through my veins; it's not going to be able to heal me in time…"

Sasuke closed his eyes, a fire burning within him that he had never wanted to feel, it was the fire of desperation along with a burst of chakra. The wind stopped as his heart halted its rhythm. There was only one thing that was left to do; this was what he had been studying for.

"You might not be able to," he focused chakra into his hands, "but I can. I'm going to save you. I've learned enough medical ninjutsu to make all of this a possibility. No one has to die in this Naruto, not you and not me. We could live through this together if you let me heal you…"

"S-so cruel, as usual, S-Sasuke," Naruto panted, his skin starting to lose color. "When you touch me with those hands of yours, you make me feel like your killing me. If you heal me, you will kill me, so give up and let me die," he smiled lightly as he looked up at Sasuke. "It's going to be alright, you're stronger than most people, I know that you can… but don't. Let me die."

"I can't…"

"You can," Naruto answered as he took hold of one of Sasuke's hands. "You can do great things even without me. You can finally be free to live a life without someone always weighing the team down. You and Sakura can be together…"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Sakura… Naruto, do you think that Sakura is just going to let you go? She needs you as much as I do if not more. Naruto… don't do this to us, don't do this to yourself."

Naruto took a deep breath. "Sakura," he closed his eyes tightly. "I love her so much…"

"She loves you too," Sasuke breathed. "She might not show it, but it's there. She cares about you. She loves you, Naruto. Don't do this to her…"

The dying boy shook his head. "She doesn't love me… she never has. No matter how hard I tried, she was only going to care about you. She only came closer to me for the last few days because she felt sorry for me. I don't want her pity, nor do I need it. I wanted so much out of life, to become Hokage that was my dream. To be Hokage, if that means that you turn your back on all of your comrades, then I don't want it. If to be alive means that you have to live alone and sad for the rest of your days, then I wish that I could have died sooner than I'm going to."

"We can all have our dreams," Sasuke breathed.

"It was joke to let Team 7 have dreams. Sakura is never going to be with you, I'm never going to be Hokage, and you will never be able to kill Itachi. We all thought that we would put our lives on the line to defend our dreams, but throughout this whole saga, all we did was lose sight of what we wanted. You came out of this a better person, but I don't want to live a monster, yet I don't mind dying one…"

Sasuke took his hands off of his best friend, looking down into his eyes. "Naruto, I didn't want this…"

"I know," Naruto coughed, his voice falling into the darkness. "Nobody wanted this, but this is how it's going to end. We'll meet each other again someday on the other side which you have grown to fear. I won't run away anymore, I won't run from death, I'm going to embrace it. Not like what happened with you…"

"Naruto, I forgive you," Sasuke yelled. "I forgive you!"

"Thank you…" Naruto breathed. "I know you forgave me, but to hear those words come from your lips, put a smile on my face, Sasuke," he coughed again, his voice drifting away. "Don't cry… when you cry it k-kills…" he let out one last sigh, "m-me."

The wind started blowing again as Sasuke closed his eyes, feeling the heartbeat stop almost suddenly, no more breath escaping his lips. All he could see now was death, Naruto no longer existed in this world, he had been taken from him. Tears rolled down Sasuke's face as he opened his eyes to the blood that was on his hand, his breathing starting to become shaky.

"N-Naruto," he breathed, his sobs becoming louder, his blood soaked hands moving to grab his own face, a cold gust of air passing by him. "Naruto!" he closed his eyes tightly as he was taken over by tears. "Naruto!"

-----

A sudden chill went through Kakashi as he stopped abruptly. Something had happened. He thought about all that could have happened while all three of his students were out there in the greatest fight they will ever see. His heart almost stopped as he tried to think which one it was, his eye closing tightly.

"What's wrong?" Asuma asked, stopping immediately after he noticed what was going on. "Kakashi? Are you okay? Do you need to rest?"

The younger jounin stared blankly at his hand as he thought about who it was, his breathing becoming small gasps as he thought about who it was. Everything froze as the wind started to blow again, his vision clouding with surprise.

"Naruto," he breathed, curling his hand into a fist.

He thought about all that was being lost as Naruto was slowly leaving this world, that boy had always had a smile on his face, he always was caring about others first. Why did he have to die? Why did any of those kids have to die? They were merely children, only genin. It wasn't fair that they were stuck in the middle of this. Silently he cursed himself for letting Naruto be taken so easily, sweat forming beneath his forehead protector as he started to lose balance, his body shaking.

"Kurenai, Gai, we'll head out later, I have something to take care of with Kakashi," he moved to the side of the fallen jounin. "Are you going to be alright?" he took his hand loosely, feeling him start to convulse. "Take it easy, don't stress over this, we're going to get all of them back no trouble."

"Naruto," Kakashi breathed, closing his eye tightly. "Something happened to him," he shook his head. "We don't have much time."

"Neither do you if you overdo this," Asuma answered as he held onto Kakashi's shoulders. "I know that you're in pain, but you have to think about yourself as well. Your heart can't take all of this pressure, your brain isn't receiving enough blood, and your heart isn't receiving enough oxygen."

Kakashi coughed as his hands shook. _Itachi, what the hell are you doing? Are you even fighting anymore or did you… _he closed his eye. _Your lungs still haven't healed have they? Itachi, hang in there a little while longer, and try to do the best you can to clean up the scene, I'm on my way._

"I have to go help him out," Kakashi stated as he stood up. "I want you to back me up, if it comes down to it. I want you to get the children out of there. I can handle Kabuto and Itachi."

Asuma wanted to argue, but he knew that he couldn't anymore. Kakashi Hatake's mind had been made up; he was going to risk everything just to save all of his students. A smile went to the older jounin's lips. This is what he would be too weak to do if it were his students; he was going to take on two people at once.

"Let's go," Asuma breathed, helping Kakashi up as they started to make their way to where Itachi and Kabuto were fighting.

-----

Sasuke took a deep breath as he tried to halt his sobbing. Naruto was growing cold beneath him as he sat there dead for longer and longer still. He wished that this didn't have to happen. There was no way in Hell that this was how his life was going to end. Naruto Uzumaki was so full of life; he wouldn't kill all of that with one movement of a dagger. Sasuke kept telling himself that this was happening for a reason, he just couldn't see what it was.

"Naruto," he took a deep breath, closing his eyes tightly. "I don't want to live like this anymore. I don't want to be alone," he started to cry as he thought more to his best friend's last moments. "Naruto, don't do this to yourself, don't die here…"

"_Don't cry… when you cry it k-kills… m-me."_

Sasuke bit at his lip. "If that's the truth then I'm a fucking murderer. I killed you," he took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down enough to go back to Itachi. "I might as well have driven that dagger through your chest with my own hands, because I killed you anyway when you saw me cry…"

A single drop of blood fell on top of Naruto's body, Sasuke's eyes widening in shock. Everything was starting to get hazy as he felt his head start to pulsate, his heart speeding up, another drop of blood falling on top of his fallen friend. He tried to stop the churning in his stomach, trying to fight the thoughts of where the blood was coming from. It couldn't be.

He reached his hand to touch the liquid that was rolling down his cheeks. Drawing his fingers away, he looked at what was on his fingertips: it was blood. His body shook as he tried to wake up from this nightmare, his head still swirling as his heart was speeding up to a complete halt.

"No," he breathed, his voice shaking, more blood falling from his eyes. "No!"

He grasped his head tightly as he tried to shake off the feeling that he was experiencing. He was dying. Everything was leaving him, his own pulse starting to slow to an almost complete stop. Blood filled his mouth, his hands clutching his stomach. Losing all control, he fell on top of Naruto's body, shivering as all heat started to desert him in his time of need.

"N-Naruto," he closed his eyes. "This hurts…"

"_Don't cry… when you cry it k-kills… m-me."_

"I didn't kill you," he breathed moving to touch Naruto's cold cheek, his body starting to shake uncontrollably. "I didn't… kill you…"

"_Don't cry… when you cry it k-kills… m-me."_

"Stop it!" he yelled as blood passed his lips, his face burying into Naruto's chest as everything was getting darker.

He was unlocking power that he no longer wanted. He no longer needed the mangekyou sharingan; he no longer needed to match Itachi's strength. His body started to halt as he took Naruto's hand, closing his bleeding eyes, a smile was on his face as he tried to remain positive, still clandestinely hoping that this was all a nightmare that he was going to awaken from.

"Naruto," he breathed, closing his eyes. "Wait for me…"

Everything in his body was no longer able to move even though he could still see. This was the end for him. Soon the one that they had all known as Sasuke Uchiha would be nothing more than a memory, one who couldn't take the power of his clan's bloodline. This was now the destiny that he had faced. He was supposed to die here. It was all up to Itachi now as his heart beat one last time.

-----

The earth was shaking as he threw another punch at the Sound ninja, this was about to end right here. Even though he was in severe pain, he could still continue to do damage. This was far from over, this was just the beginning of a fight that he had wanted to fight ever since the day they kicked him out of the Akatsuki. Kabuto was the right hand man to that bastard who had caused all of this: Orochimaru.

"Stop running away from me," Itachi panted as he pulled out a sai, hurling it to the tree that Kabuto was hiding behind, the force causing the sturdiness of the tree to fumble. "You think that you can do all of this and not pay the price? You've been long overdue for the end of the line. Enough games… fight me…"

He heard rustling as Kabuto continued to try to run through the trees, a smile came to his lips. No matter how hard the medical ninja tried, he would never run from the Uchiha kekkei genkai. He could feel him breathing, panting as he moved through the trees, he could sense the beat of his pulse.

"What happened to wanting to see me struggle?" Itachi asked with a small smirk, pulling out a kunai. "Change your mind on that one too? I thought you said you'd fight me, to run away like a coward. No matter what, you're empty handed; only this way," he pulled one of the necklace chains, revealing the ring that was on attached, "you get my Akatsuki ring. You could save your life by killing me. Sounds enticing, right?"

"It does," Kabuto answered, running out with a curled fist to punch Itachi. "I'm going to bring them your heart on a platter!"

"Try and get it," Itachi breathed, driving his own fist into Kabuto's chest, pushing him to the ground, smiling as he cried out in pain. "If you can get at it, then I will let you have it, but until then, you don't get this ring," he tucked it away as he curled his hands into fists. "Get up!"

Kabuto took a deep breath as he struggled to get to his feet. _If he's going to continue to use taijutsu then this battle is going to go in his favor. The strength, I've never seen someone at his health level that strong. He should be dead using that much chakra after that technique I did._

Itachi pushed Kabuto to the ground as he looked down at him. "Tell the Akatsuki that they messed with the wrong person, that is if you survive this…"

"I won't die," Kabuto breathed, his eyes narrowing as he looked into Itachi's eyes. "Even now as I look into those _dangerous _eyes of yours, all I see is your weakness, the weakness that no one had noticed before."

Another fist hit him as he fell to the ground. "Kabuto, there is no weakness here; if I was really that weak, do you think that you'd be going through this much pain. You got one good hit in during this. All of the other hits that you've managed to drive into me were back when I was injured. I'm not like that anymore, I've healed."

"You might have healed, but I'm not as weak as I look," Kabuto bragged.

"If I can beat your master, I can beat you," Itachi breathed, running up to him, grasping his neck tightly. "This isn't going to take as long as you want it to. I'm out of your league. You're going to fall here."

"Cocky as ever," Kabuto scoffed. "Going to bring more misfortune to your clan?"

"Not as much misfortune you'll be bringing to Orochimaru when I destroy all of his hopes and dreams," backed up to look down at the ground, the bloody dagger right behind him, some magnetic force drawing him to the murderous blade.

His fingers moved down to clutch the dagger, Shisui's face filling his memories. Everything that had gone on to this moment was all part of Shisui's design. Fingers tightened around the grip as he remembered the words that Shisui had said to him, he called him weak, he called him nothing more than a mistake that had to be corrected, a level that had to be cleared. This was his time to show himself that wasn't the case, he was stronger than he thought he was.

"_You're scared of this dagger, whenever I touch it, I see that look in your eyes, I see the fear. You're afraid that someone is going to die by this dagger, you're afraid that someone is going to get hurt from this dagger. You're scared, Itachi, you're always scared of everything. That's why you're always in pain, that's why you're always running away and shutting yourself out. You've given up too soon, you give up to easy, it's pathetic."_

Itachi turned around looking at Kabuto, holding onto the dagger tightly. There was something that he would have to do against him; it was use this dagger to destroy everything that he wanted to do. This dagger meant more to him than all of the power in the world. To be able to use it to its full potential would show just how strong he was. It would show that he was stronger than Shisui the Mirage.

Forcing chakra through the dagger, he doubled the size, the chakra actually visible, pulsating. His sharingan eyes were glowing with the light of the power, his hand starting to shake as the chakra became stronger, the flashes becoming brighter. Everything that he had was going into this last technique.

"What the hell?" Kabuto asked trying to look through the bright light, seeing Itachi grasping the dagger. "It couldn't be," his eyes widened with shock as he watched the sparks of chakra rolling through the metal of the weapon. _There's no way that he has enough chakra to do this technique, that's Shisui Uchiha's technique. If he actually follows through correctly, I'm dead._

Itachi closed his eyes, sweat starting to roll down his forehead. "Shadow Clone Jutsu," he held onto the dagger tightly, holding it about his head, the three shadow clones by his side, their chakra surging into the original dagger, more sparks flying. He closed his eyes as the three clones started circling around him, increasing the chakra build-up and speed.

Kabuto closed his eyes as he felt the three clones moved in different directions, chakra hitting him at all different times, at different points of contact. He could tell this was Shisui's jutsu as he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything but swirling chakra as he was hit, the Body Flicker was a pre-requisite for this technique. Still they hit him until no end, his body surging with Itachi's chakra as the original Itachi ran up to his front.

Suddenly, the last piece was administered, the dagger being sliced through the air, knocking him back a few feet into a tree. He couldn't feel his body, everything was getting hazy. The amount of chakra that Itachi put into that was menacing, and it was so strong. Kabuto wasn't sure if some Akatsuki would make it out of that alive.

Itachi dropped to the ground as he held onto the dagger, sweat pouring down his face as he desperately tried to catch his breath. _I shouldn't have used that attack, it takes way too much chakra, _he looked at Kabuto who was semi-conscious and bleeding on a tree, his body shaking with small tremors of shock. _But it's worth the loss just to win the battle._

A surge of pain went through his chest, he had forgotten about the jutsu on his heart. That much chakra being used should have killed him by now, his heart should have stopped in the middle of the battle. Everything was getting blurry as he tried to focus his vision on his opponent.

_Just one more time, _he closed his eyes tightly, concentrating more chakra into his hand, his body shaking as he was reaching his limit. _Just one more time let this work. _He placed his hand over his chest starting to heal the electrical impulses that were ruined in Kabuto's attack. He closed his eyes as more chakra surged through his body, his heart starting to calm down to a normal speed.

"H-how?" Kabuto asked as he sputtered up some blood. "How did you…?" he grasped a poisonous kunai, his eyes narrowing in anger. "Damn you!" he flung the kunai in Itachi's direction, watching as the worn out ninja tried to move.

_Clang_! A kunai knocked the poisonous blade out of the way, causing it to fall to the ground. Itachi looking up into the trees to see who it was. "Sasuke?"

The two figured jumped down from the trees standing in front of Itachi. "Sorry I'm late," one stated. "I got lost…"

"Kakashi?" Itachi asked, looking up at him. "Asuma? What are you guys doing here?"

"We're going to take care of this," Asuma answered as he walked toward Kabuto. "Kabuto Yakushi, you're under arrest. We want answers to our questions, and you're going to give them to us."

Kabuto took a deep breath as Asuma grabbed him. "Itachi," he looked over at the younger ninja, watching Kakashi wipe the sweat off of his forehead. "That was the strongest attack that I have ever seen…"

Itachi smirked weakly. "Thank you…"

"It was an honor," Kabuto breathed, stumbling in Asuma's grip. "It was an honor to be beaten by the real Itachi Uchiha, the strong Itachi Uchiha. It reminded me of how you were in the Akatsuki. You really are a worthy opponent…"

Itachi closed his eyes, looking down at the ground. "No," he looked up at Kabuto with a smile on his face. "That Itachi Uchiha, the one that you knew from the Akatsuki, he's dead, and he's never going to come back," he looked up at Kabuto. "This is the new me, the stronger me."

"The Akatsuki is going to be upset when they see what happened," Kabuto sighed shaking his head. "You beat them; you were so in control of everything. I didn't get to see the struggle that I wanted, but now I know that you wouldn't give me the pleasure. But before I go, I have one more question," Asuma held onto him tighter as he started to stumble. "Why? Why did you go easy on me and Sakura?"

Itachi closed his eyes trying to absorb the question. He could have done more damage; he could have killed Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Asuma, Kabuto and the Hokage. He didn't. He couldn't. Something told him he couldn't, something deep inside of him that he thought had died a long time ago. He was alive. This whole time he was searching for a way to break away from his cousin, he had found it right where he started off: in Konoha.

"I don't know," Itachi breathed. "I guess it was just how it turned out."

Kakashi looked up at Asuma. "Take Kabuto back to the village and put him in a cell. We need to get as much information as we can out of him," he looked over at Itachi as Asuma nodded, starting to walk away. "What the hell happened out here?"

Itachi scoffed. "I didn't need you to come in here and save me," he broke free from Kakashi's grip, standing up quickly, starting to walk away from him. As he did, he heard the jounin's voice call out to him.

"Where's Sasuke?" Kakashi asked curiously, Itachi stopped immediately. "Where did he run off to?"

Itachi continued to walk away, breathing heavily as his lack of chakra was clouding his vision. _Sasuke, _he continued to move forward, Kakashi standing up to follow him, laying a supportive arm on his shoulder. He almost crumbled as his vision clouded completely.

"You used too much chakra," Kakashi breathed as he sat Itachi down up against one of the remaining trees. "You need to rest right now," the jounin took a deep breath as he clutched his head, letting out a small groan.

Itachi watched as the jounin shivered. "Still in pain?"

"No one can destroy someone's body with genjutsu like you," the jounin sighed sitting down next to him. "Hey Itachi?"

"What?" Itachi asked, looking over at the jounin.

"Are you feeling alright?" Kakashi asked.

Itachi smirked gently as he closed his eyes. "I've felt better," he shivered lightly letting out a low cough. "I need to go and get Sasuke," he struggled to move. "I need to tell him that it's all over now. There's no more Kabuto, no more pain, nothing but the goal that we've been working for. Kakashi Hatake," he extended his hand out to him with a slight smile, "thank you."

Kakashi smiled beneath the mask as he returned the younger ninja's handshake. "It was no problem at all. I didn't want to see you get pushed around anymore," he tightened his grip. "Itachi, you are not someone to be toyed with. I know that now."

Itachi's smile faded as he took his hand away from the jounin. "I have to go," he stood up quickly; starting to walk away, not even glancing back at Kakashi, the air was thick with frost once again.

Kakashi closed his eye as he sighed. "After all of this time, you still can't get over me can you? You still can't forgive me for what I did to you," he looked over in his direction. "Itachi, so much hatred still clouds your heart, and you still can't fight it."

He stood up walking in the same direction that Itachi had gone in, his vision starting to become cloudy. In that direction were his students, the ones that he had come all of this way for. He wasn't going to leave without Sasuke or Naruto, not until he knew that Naruto was safe. If Sasuke was the one who was hurt, the consequences would be worse. They'd have Itachi to deal with. He muttered a small prayer as he continued on his voyage.

"Please let them be safe…"

-----

Itachi walked through the path in the woods, following the sound of water. He was close. As every foot hit the ground, he felt himself getting closer to his goal: Sasuke. Was he alright? His heart raced as he waited to see what had become of his brother? Did Naruto die on him? There was no time left for being slow, Sasuke needed him now more than ever.

"Sasuke," he panted as he went through the woods, running to the rivers edge, looking around, he didn't see anything. All he could feel accompanying him was a chilling wind that was rolling through his hair, freezing his sweat soaked skin. "Sasuke?" he continued to look at his surroundings.

Where was he? Where could he have possibly gone? He should have been standing right here. He should have been waiting for Itachi to come to him with open arms. He wasn't here. He looked in every direction around him, until there was only one place to look, at his feet. Red eyes looked down at the ground, his heart stopping as he saw the sight. There at his feet were a deceased Naruto lying on his back, with the lifeless bloody body of Itachi's younger brother.

"Sasuke!" he yelled as he fell to his knees, placing a hand on his face. _He's so cold. _He drew his hand back at he felt the heatless sensation, feeling a moistness on his hand, dripping down his arm. One look at the liquid made Itachi's stomach churn. "Blood?"

He looked at his brother, his heart stopping as he saw everything from a nightmare. From his eyes were trails of crimson blood, the same cursed liquid rolling from his lips and nose as well. This was the mangekyou sharingan. But how? Sasuke didn't kill Naruto, Naruto drove that dagger through his own chest. To achieve the power of the Uchiha clan, one has to take the life of their best friend. Itachi had done that when he killed Shisui, but Sasuke didn't kill Naruto.

"_You killed me, Itachi, you're going to unlock that power that we read about… you're going to be an excellent ninja."_

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked as he pulled his body closer to his body. "What the hell happened? What the hell did you do?" he closed his eyes as he buried his face into Sasuke's small body. "Sasuke," he started to lose control of his breathing. "Sasuke!" he couldn't sense a heartbeat, if it was there it was very faint.

Itachi knew that not everyone would survive the transition of the regular sharingan to the mangekyou sharingan. Sasuke might not be one of the lucky ones like Itachi was. He was most likely going to die from this. He hadn't reached the point in potential when he would survive this. He was too young and too behind in his development.

"Sasuke," Itachi breathed as he stroked his face. "I love you," he closed his eyes as he held onto him tighter. "I love you," he shook his head as he tried to block out the fact that Sasuke was dead in his arms. "No," a tear rolled down his face as he started to shake. "No!"

Another tear fell from Itachi's eyes as his whole body shook, Sasuke's body remained motionless. After all of this time, all that they had been through, it was all useless, he was going to die anyway. Itachi didn't want it to end like this; this wasn't the way that he planned it. He had to stop this from happening; he had to save the last person that he had left in his life.

"Sasuke," he tried to bring chakra to his hand, but it was no use. After the fight with Kabuto, he barely had enough power to keep up the sharingan. The finishing blow was too strong, there was no way that he could even think about healing his brother, he didn't think that it would come to this.

Their game of cheating death was now over. There was no more tug-of-war, no more when Itachi was in trouble Sasuke would heal him and no more if Sasuke was in trouble Itachi would heal him. That game had died, Itachi couldn't do it anymore. He had tried so hard to ensure that technique's success rate and now when it was needed the most it didn't come true.

"Sasuke," he closed his eyes as he started to sob. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I wasn't here for you," he let out another breathy sob as he held onto the younger Uchiha's hand. "I love you," he moved to kiss him lightly on the lips, his tears washing away the blood that was on Sasuke's face.

Footsteps approached, accelerated from the screaming. "Itachi!" it was Kakashi, trying desperately to catch his breath. He looked at the scene, his eye first falling onto a dead Naruto, then panning to see Itachi holding Sasuke, his face buried in his chest. "Sasuke!"

"Stay back, Kakashi," Itachi whimpered. "You don't want to see this."

Kakashi stepped forward. "Itachi are you… _crying_?"

Itachi lifted his head off of Sasuke, with a smile. "Coming here to mock me?"

"No," the jounin answered. "I was worried about you…"

"You were worried about Sasuke and Naruto," Itachi breathed, placing Sasuke's body on the ground, standing up. "Don't try to make yourself sound like a glorious being, you never cared about me," he shook his head, his voice shaking. "After all of this time…"

Kakashi took a step forward. "Itachi…"

"Don't touch me!" the younger ninja hissed. "I don't want you to rub it in my face that you were right about all of this again. I don't want you to tell me this is what I get for being fucked up," Kakashi flinched hearing Itachi swear like that. "I know," he took a deep breath. "I know it was a mistake to come back. I know that it was wrong of me to try to make amends with Sasuke, it's just… after what I did to him that night, I couldn't even think about how low I sank. To rape a twelve-year-old, to rape my own brother, to rape the one that I loved was the most disgusting thing I could ever do."

"Itachi," Kakashi breathed.

"I thought that maybe I could make my life worth something. Ever since Shisui died…" he closed his eyes. "Ever since you left me…" he looked back at him. "I had nothing to lean on, nothing left for me to talk to…"

"Itachi," Kakashi breathed, moving closer to the young ninja.

"I thought that this was my chance to break all of the chains that have been weighing me down. I thought that I could erase you and Shisui away from myself if I leaned on Sasuke, but I was wrong…" he closed his eyes tightly. "I just lost him in the end too."

Kakashi placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder, turning him around to pull him into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry for everything," he held on tighter to him. "I thought about you every single day since you came back. Your smile, your laugh, your scent, how soft your skin is," he ran a hand through Itachi's ponytail. "You've grown a lot since back then."

Itachi snickered into Kakashi's shoulder. "I'm not a kid anymore," the tears continued to fall; he closed his eyes as he looked down at Sasuke. "Kakashi," he shook his head. "I failed…"

"No, you didn't," Kakashi breathed as Itachi pushed away from him. "Itachi, you stopped the Akatsuki…"

"I lost Sasuke," Itachi breathed, closing his eyes, shaking his head as he tried to fight the tears. "Even if he is still here," he opened his eyes quickly, looking over at Kakashi, "how could I face him now?" he took a deep breath as if he were thinking. "I want you to do something for me…"

"Yes?" Kakashi asked.

Itachi looked down at Sasuke. "Take care of him. Inside of his body there is a power unlocking, the power of the mangekyou sharingan. He's going to need a lot of help trying to control it. You're a strong ninja, I can trust you with him," he let one last tear fall down his face. "Tell him that I'm sorry about what happened, and don't let anything happen to him," he swallowed hard on his words. "Don't be like me, and don't let him become like me. I don't want him to be a monster with no purpose."

Kakashi watched as Itachi started to walk away. "I never thought you were a monster. I never did," he took a deep breath. "I still love you…" he looked up into Itachi's eyes. "I always have. I never meant to abandon you, but what happened between you and your father; I thought he was going to kill you."

Itachi sighed. "Kakashi, in some corner of my heart, I could never forget you. That was the corner that was angry at you, yet it was the same corner that kept you alive," his eyes watered as he looked over at Itachi, holding his hand out to touch his. "Kakashi Hatake," he kissed the hand gently. "Take care of Sasuke…"

Itachi turned away as he started to walk in the opposite direction from the jounin, into the darkness of the woods. Kakashi picked Sasuke up gently, remembering the day when Itachi had come back. A lot had changed since that day, and none of them were ever going to be the same.

"Itachi," Kakashi whispered, closing his eye. "Thank you for giving us the strength that we all needed," he turned around looking down at Naruto. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm sorry for being late…"

He lifted up his other student, looking up at the setting sun; this was the sun setting on their old life, the next sunrise signaling the dawn of a new day.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I know that parts of this chapter were a little depressing, but this is the last real arc of the story, the rest will be the aftermath of the damage that was caused due to the chase after Kabuto, only two more chapters. I know that you all knew that Kakashi and Itachi were lovers, but none of you knew that it was going to be Naruto who died. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that Naruto should have lived? Honesty is really good. 


	42. Chapter 42

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that pertains to the anime/manga _Naruto_

**Warnings: **This chapter contains subjects of death including mourning, coarse language, slight incest, slight yaoi, references to rape, references to violence, talk of suicide, talk of homicide, OOC, and the canon is not a main player in this game. There are also quite a few errors in here, sorry about that.

**Pairings: **References to ItaSasu, some SasuSaku, references to KakaIta, slight KakaIru

* * *

"Is he alright?" a voice called out. "He's been unconscious for two whole days. I'm starting to think that he's dead." 

"Come on Chouji, he's not dead, he has a pulse," another voice called out, clearly female. "Besides, did you see all of the blood? There's no way that he was going to stand back up after that much of a beating."

Slowly the darkness started to dissipate, the sound of an EKG filling his ears. He could feel all sorts of wires running through him, his body shaking as he felt the needles digging into his skin. It was all reminded him of the day that Itachi had raped him, leaving him bleeding on the ground. Then it hit him, maybe this was the same incident. Maybe he was going to wake up to the world that he thought had died months ago. His eyes started to open as he was met with the faces of Team 10.

"Sasuke," Ino stated with a smile. "You're awake, how do you feel?"

Sasuke looked around him to see nothing but a blurry room, his whole body shaking as his head reeled with absolute pain. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital," Shikamaru answered flatly. "You took a bit of a hit back there in the woods. When Kakashi found you everyone thought you were dead, you barely had a pulse," he sat on the corner of the bed. "It seems that you needed another blood transfusion," he pointed to the IV. "We really thought we lost you this time, it took longer than it should have to get you breathing again…"

Sasuke looked over at the bed in the corner, seeing another body lying in the sheets, his eyes trying to adjust to see who it was. Ino's blue eyes trailed into the direction that the Uchiha was looking, finally revealing the person's identity.

"Sasuke," Ino breathed. "There wasn't enough room in the hospital so you had to share a room. It shouldn't be a problem since you know each other. The doctors said your vision will be blurry for a while and it will hard for you to focus your eyes, but that's Sakura…"

Sasuke swallowed hard, his throat burning as he did so. "S-Sakura?" this wasn't a dream, the whole thing happened, down to the death of Naruto. Everything that he had wished was a bad dream had all come true.

"She got one hell of a beating, don't you remember?" Shikamaru asked.

Sasuke swallowed hard again, his eyes closing as tears started to form behind his eyelids. "So Naruto," he took a deep breath. "Is he really…? Is he…? Did he die?"

"Sasuke," Shikamaru sighed.

"_Don't cry… when you cry it k-kills… m-me."_

Sasuke let one tear fall down his cheek as he remembered holding Naruto in his arms as he died, feeling the last beats of his heart, the last breaths. It was real as he watched him drift to the other side of the gate of life. He was taken away by the same force that Sasuke had grown to fear after all of this time. This had turned to the opposite direction that it had before, he thought that he was going to die and Naruto was going to die. Once again he was wrong.

"The funeral's soon," Shikamaru continued. "I know that it's difficult for you to take in…"

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as he shook his head. "Get out of here…"

"Sasuke," Ino started trying to comfort him.

"Get out!" Sasuke yelled as he closed his eyes tightly, tears rolling down his cheeks, his whole body shaking. Three sets of eyes gazed upon him as he took a deep breath, trying the hardest to understand his pain. There was nothing that could be done about this as the Uchiha started to cry harder, burying his face in his hands, his fingers shaking as he tried to absorb that this was all real.

Team 10 left him, his tears running more hurriedly as he let out low whimpers, his whole body shaking. After all of this time, all of the moments that he went through, it was all just a waste of time. Naruto was gone; there was no bringing him back now. He felt sick, his heart racing faster, the beeps from the EKG filling his ears. These damn wires, the damn tubes, these damn walls, it all brought back memories of the times before this mess started, that night when it could have gone either way. What if he hadn't tried to fight Itachi off? Would it have turned out like this? Would Naruto be dead?

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly as he took a deep breath, Itachi was gone too. He had abandoned him in the woods. Even though a part of him wanted to blame the older ninja for the situation, he was currently in, he knew he could never fully do that. There was no way in Hell that Itachi would purposely leave Sasuke in the middle of the fight that he had brought him in. Was there something going on with Sasuke that he didn't remember?

Then it hit him, the blood that was running from his eyes, Itachi was scared that he wouldn't be able to control that power. He regretted that he made this happen to him. That power was the power that almost killed Itachi, the power that he had been having nightmares of every time he tried to go to sleep. Closing his eyes, he continued to cry. This was his life now; this was how he was going to live.

"Sasuke?" Sakura's voice called out as she looked over at him. "Is it true… is Naruto really gone?"

"Yeah," Sasuke answered lightly, he wasn't able to look at Sakura. She was covered with bandages, her arm in a sling.

He was reminded of what Itachi had done to him; the wounds that were plaguing her were the same wounds that he had grown to hate while he was in this prison. She was now the one who was in pain; she was the one who almost died out there. Sasuke thought that none of them were going to make it out alive, he was wrong; two of them lived while one died.

"I guess I should take some blame," Sakura closed her eyes, trying to fight the tears. "If I hadn't gone off with Kabuto…"

"Don't blame it all on yourself," Sasuke breathed, trying to focus his vision on her. "I was there when he died, I could have healed him, but like a fool I stood there and did nothing. I stood there and watched as he died. I heard him say his last words."

Sakura's voice was shaking as her EKG sped up, contrasting with Sasuke's. "What were they? What was the last thing that he ever said to you?"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he remembered the blood, as he remembered the pain that he had gone through right before he left him alone by the rivers edge. The peaceful look in his blue eyes was always going to haunt his dreams as was that smile across his face. The words echoed, every syllable piercing through his heart as he tried to remember.

"Don't cry," Sasuke took a deep breath as he looked over at Sakura, his eyes starting to water violently. "When you cry it kills me…"

She closed her eyes as she started to sob, her sore body shaking violently. "You know what the last thing that he said to me was?" she tried to mask her pain as she took a deep breath. "Fuck you, I don't give a damn about your Orochimaru, nor do I give a damn about Kabuto Yakushi or Itachi Uchiha. You make me sick, Sakura… you make me sick…" she laughed once. "I never thought that he was going to die, I never thought that anyone was going to hurt him…"

Sasuke shook his head. "He took his own life, I was there when he ran the dagger through his chest," his hand moved to grasp the cloth that was over his beating heart, his eyes closing tightly, his breathing starting to develop hitches in the pattern. "I remember everything that he said to me as he lay dying, even if I tried to forget, I never could. He loved you so much, you know what he said after that?" he asked trying to make Sakura feel some guilt about what happened to take some off of himself.

"What?" she asked, wiping the tears from her eyes with her good hand.

He took a deep breath. "She doesn't love me… she never has. No matter how hard I tried, she was only going to care about you. She only came closer to me for the last few days because she felt sorry for me. I don't want her pity, nor do I need it. I wanted so much out of life, to become Hokage that was my dream. To be Hokage, if that means that you turn your back on all of your comrades, then I don't want it. If to be alive means that you have to live alone and sad for the rest of your days, then I wish that I could have died sooner than I'm going to."

He shook his head as he heard silence from the other side of the room, the rustling of the hospital sheets filling his ears. He couldn't look at her now as her face twisted into the most sorrow that he had ever seen, her once innocent green eyes becoming filled with self-hate and sorrow. He couldn't even begin to feel how she was feeling, he didn't want to feel the feeling that she was going through. To have Naruto die in his arms was enough for him, he didn't need anything else.

"Naruto," she breathed, tightening her hand into a fist, her eyes closing painfully. "Why? Why did you do it?" she shook her head. "I love you, Naruto," she started to cry harder. "I love you so much, more than anything…"

He closed his eyes as he remembered Itachi, his own eyes watering as he thought what had become of his older brother. Did he take his own life after what he thought was Sasuke's death? Or did Kakashi chase him out of the village for the crimes that he had committed?

Tears fell from his eyes as he recalled those lips pressed passionately against his the last time they had sex, no, _made love_. He remembered the pain that Itachi was going through as he was slowly losing Sasuke with every step that he took, he was slowly losing him. That last time was the time that Sasuke needed to show that his brother would be lost without him. How he wished he could feel that reassuring touch once more, to kiss those lips, to tell him that he loved him. He would give anything for those moments that he had cursed for so long. He would give anything to hold him.

"Naruto knew that Sakura, that's why he did it," Sasuke breathe gently. "He didn't want us to get caught up in the war that the Akatsuki was planning so by killing himself, he was killing the spirit of the nine-tailed fox. Now there is no way they can complete their mission, we're safe."

"He was always crazy about us," she whimpered quietly. "He's so annoying…" she smiled lightly as she tried to hide the sorrow. "He's a bother…"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he realized what was going to happen now; they were never going to be Team 7 again. Sakura would never want to fight; he was scared of just the mention of blood, Kakashi was slowly dying on them, and Naruto had died. The team that was once called Team 7 was no more, nothing more than a memory of a far off past. This was the end of them.

After all that they had been through, this is what it had come down to. Sasuke was going to be forced to practice on his own, staying at the rank of genin for the rest of his life. It was fine back when he had Itachi by his side, the days that he had taken for granted. All of that was gone now, nothing was left of him, Sasuke couldn't even smell his scent on his clothes.

"Itachi," he whispered almost inaudibly, as Sakura continued to sob about Naruto. They were broken beyond repair.

Naruto said that he didn't want to hurt them anymore, now that he was gone, all that remained was the pain that they had been trying to avoid. Naruto's death was in vain, Sasuke was still going to go through pain, if not more. He hated this Hell that he had initiated into. He would give anything for the light of Itachi's grace, but he could never get that. The light had faded, and Sasuke was to be forever lost.

-----

Another day passed, he had finally escaped the walls of the hospital room, but the pain was still deep within him as he thought back to all of the pain that he had been through. Itachi was gone; he wasn't going to come back to him. There was something that told him that Itachi might have forgotten him by now. His fist curled tightly as he remembered Itachi yelling for him to take care of Naruto. He could still see the struggle that his brother was going through. He took a kunai for him in that fight; he had shed his blood to ensure the safety of his younger brother. He cared too much about him.

Now Sasuke would give anything to hold him as he was lead down these halls to where he was to be punished. They were taking him to the Hokage, he knew what that meant. Everyone knew that he was involved with Itachi, they were going to question him and then he would be punished, most likely killed for conspiring against the village. Knowing that, he was unafraid, he was going to die for Itachi's dream, he was going to give everything up for the cause that they had fought so hard for.

He continued to follow Gai and Kakashi down the hall, the two jounin not looking at each other as they made their way there, not looking back at Sasuke either. They knew the questions that he was going to ask, and they knew that they would never be able to answer any of them. This had to be done quickly; they had been putting this off for too long.

"Kakashi," Sasuke breathed, trying to ignore the fact that they had chosen not to answer any questions. "Where did Itachi go?"

The younger jounin sighed as he continued to walk. "He's gone…" he looked over at his shoulder at the young genin. "I let him go, I couldn't stand to cause any harm to him after what happened to you. When he saw your body…"

"He came looking for me?" Sasuke asked his eyes wide with shock. He could imagine the look on Itachi's face as he saw the blood rolling down his cheeks. It would be just like the memory of his own manifestation the night Shisui died.

"Did you think he was going to leave you?" Kakashi asked. "Eventually he did, but it was for different reasons, reasons that I can't even begin to explain to you. Your brother is a complex person, I don't know what possessed him to leave you behind, he told me how much he loves you…"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I know that he loves me…"

They walked closer to the door, as Asuma and Kurenai walked closer with Sakura walking with them. She had been pulled into this situation as well. The nightmare was coming true as he watched the jounin all look at each other with solemn faces. There was something that was going on, they all knew what this meeting was about, it did have to do with punishment. His whole body shook as he thought about what they were going to do to him. Secretly, he wished that he had died in the woods.

"They're just children," Kurenai said as the two genin walked through the door. "They didn't know what they did…"

"You know the laws," Gai countered quietly. "They went against the village."

"Sasuke saved us," Asuma continued. "Don't you think that should be a way to get them out of this punishment? They could have died in the woods. If we make them go through this, they're going to wish they had."

Sakura looked over at Sasuke, he eyes watering. She knew what this was about too. Unlike Sasuke, she didn't save anyone. She went off with Kabuto Yakushi, she went off with the problem while Sasuke went off with the solution. Both parties only brought bloodshed to the village, both parties being punished. Yet deep in his heart, Sasuke knew that Sakura's punishment was going to be lighter than his, the man that forced her to do all of this was in their prisons, Itachi was still at large, he would have to be punished for both of them.

The group walked through the door to see the Hokage at his desk, Iruka by his side. The chuunin had a sad look in his eyes as he looked at Sasuke, he could remember when Itachi had saved his life. That would mean nothing before the Hokage; all he could see when he looked at Sasuke was the blade that was running through his son's body, all he could see were those cold red eyes looking straight at him. No one could see Sasuke anymore, all they could see was Itachi.

"We brought them to you, Lord Hokage," Gai introduced. "You wanted to talk to them."

The Hokage looked up at the young genin. "Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, I want to ask you a single question," he stood up. "What were you thinking? Did you even consider the damage you could have caused?" he watched as both sets of eyes closed. "You two did the most reckless thing you could, siding with the enemy and then trying to hide it from us."

Sakura looked up into the old man's eyes. "Lord Hokage…"

"You Sakura did more damage than Sasuke did," he looked at the Uchiha. "Sasuke, Itachi tortured you and still you let him take control of you. Do you know how much damage you have helped him cause throughout all of this?"

"I take some responsibility. I'm not going to stand here and drag his name through the mud like you think I am," he opened his eyes to look at the standing man. "I will take some responsibility for the good that he did for you as well. He saved the village, he stopped Konoha from being invaded by the Sound Village, and he saved Iruka when he didn't even have to…"

The old man sat back down again, the chuunin at his side looking away from him. The room was dead silent as all eyes fell on Sasuke. Was he out of his mind talking back to the Hokage like that? He was already in trouble, why did he need to get himself into more. Itachi wasn't going to come back to save him from his dark fate, he was on his own if this was going to end in his death. This was the decision he wanted to make.

"If you want to punish someone for what Itachi did, then blame me. I could have stopped it all from happening, I could have stopped all of the pain that we have gone through, but I didn't. I let all of this happen," Sasuke argued, his eyes filled with determination, freezing everyone who was gazing at him right where they stood. "I was the reason why he even came back in the first place; please punish me if someone must be punished."

Sakura looked over at him. "Are you crazy, Sasuke? You can't possibly want to do your brother's time. Do you know how many crimes he had committed since he came here? Rape, murder, assault, disguising as an officer, kidnapping, and many more on top of that, you could get out with plotting against the village."

Sasuke closed his eyes as he placed his hands on the desk. "Lord Hokage, with all due respect, it wasn't solely Itachi's fault for the assault on the village. Kabuto Yakushi was the one who had taken Naruto to the woods; he was the reason why he took his own life. Itachi was trying to save him."

The old man sighed as he watched the young genin's hands shake against the desk. "Why are you protecting him? Why now do you still wish to go one his side even though he is no longer here to control you?"

"Because," Sasuke answered quickly, looking into his leader's eyes. "He didn't force me into doing anything; everything that I do is of my own free will. I could have told him to leave, and he would have listened. You see, you all didn't know it, but I could have bent the situation, I was just too blind to see where it was going. I could have stopped him front hurting all of you, but I was too late. Don't blame him, blame me."

There was a silence as the rain started to hit the window, everyone was still looking at Sasuke, wondering when he was going to break down. When was he going to fall to his knees and beg the Hokage for forgiveness? He didn't even move to start to make their request. His eyes looked straight into those of the old man, his hands still pressed against the desk.

"The punishment for all of the crimes that Itachi committed is death, you know that," the Hokage looked up at the young genin. "Are you going to throw your life away for a man that abandoned you? For a man who did nothing but abuse you throughout your whole life? Are you going to stand before me and tell me that your life no longer matters because of him?"

Sasuke closed his eyes tightly. "I won't let you go after him; I won't let you hurt him. If you want to punish him for the crimes, take my life. Once you kill me, he will never be able to find the strength to attack you again."

Kakashi stepped forward. "Lord Hokage…"

"Stay out of this, Kakashi," Sasuke snapped, looking back at him. "This doesn't concern you. This is between the Hokage and me. Stand back…"

The jounin looked up at the Hokage. "Do you honestly think that killing this boy is going to save the village from Itachi? He's going to remember you as the one who killed his little brother, and he'll seek revenge and burn this whole village to the ground."

Sasuke looked up at the Hokage. "If we must be punished for our crimes, then punish me for Itachi as well. Unlike Sakura, I was fully aware of what I was doing; he didn't coerce me into it, I went of my own free will. To know that because I was this clueless that Naruto died," he closed his eyes as he fought the tremors of fear that were rolling through his body, "for that I am truly sorry. Please, kill me…"

"Hokage!" Kakashi cried out, stepping in between his students. "Sakura and Sasuke didn't do anything that is worth their lives. Sakura was forced into what she did and Sasuke was seduced into it, whether he wants to believe it or not. We also have to take into consideration that Itachi did save Iruka in his time of need," he looked up at the chuunin. "They weren't fully aware of the violence it caused them. I take full responsibility for Itachi's violence as well as Sakura's confusion. If any lives need to be taken, it's mine."

"Kakashi!" Gai cried out. "What the hell are you saying?"

Kakashi looked into the Hokage's eyes. "Who better to kill than the one who was in charge of the team? I was the one who should have been taking care of Sasuke the night when Itachi came back, I should have kept closer watch on Sakura, and I should have helped guard Naruto. I failed them during all of this; I should be punished for this."

Iruka looked over at him. "Kakashi, don't do this."

The Hokage looked up at the jounin, noticing the two genin looking straight at him, the other jounin asking themselves why he was doing something like this. What was he trying to prove? That he was strong? That he could take anything? He was throwing his life away for his students, not because he solely wanted to protect them, but he blamed himself for Naruto's death as well.

"Naruto is dead," Kakashi breathed. "We all know that. We all know that it was Kabuto Yakushi who had brought him to this decision. Itachi was after him to destroy Kabuto and bring the boy back to us. In order to foil the Akatsuki's plan he would either have to kill him or keep him safe while he finishes off the organization. He chose the latter of the two choices. Due to complications during the mission, Naruto took his own life to save the situation. If I had gotten there earlier…"

The Hokage looked over at Asuma and then back at the children. "You two had no right doing what you did. You could have gotten yourself killed throughout all of this. Sakura, Sasuke, I hope you realize what you done," he turned away from them. "I hope the loss of your teammate makes you understand what you did. Anymore punishment would just be cruel."

Everyone turned around to leave, the chunnin still standing by the Hokage's side. "Kakashi, Lord Hokage would like to have a word with you."

The jounin turned away from everyone else who was leaving the room. "Yes."

"Kakashi," the old man started. "I only did that because I trust your judgment. I know no one knows Itachi Uchiha better than you. I remember a few years back, you two were inseparable. You were like a father to him."

The jounin snickered. "I was hardly a father…"

"It's because of you that those children got off easy, and it was because of your guidance that they all got out of there alive," the Hokage looked out the window. "You may be dismissed."

As Kakashi was leaving the room, Iruka followed him out the door, trying to catch up with him. "Kakashi! Wait!"

The jounin stopped as he looked back at Iruka, the chuunin had a look of sorrow on his face as he looked at the cane that was in Kakashi's hand. Ever since the stress from the last mission he hadn't been able to walk properly, his legs weaker than they were before, his heart not receiving proper nerve responses.

"Why do you risk your life until you're in pain?" Iruka asked, walking closer. "You aren't in the right condition to be going after people; you could die at any minute. That was the strongest blast of Tsukuyomi that I have ever heard of, he was able to upset the way that your brain works," he looked up at his shaking body. "How much more time do you have to live?"

Kakashi's body shuddered as he heard those words. "What do you mean?"

"Your body is starting to die on you, I can see it," Iruka answered, taking a few steps forward. "How long do you have until you give into the pain that you are trying to hide so horribly?"

"So you think I'm going to die?" Kakashi asked.

"Why else would you want to give your life for them that quickly? Lord Hokage wasn't going to take any lives until Sasuke said that he wanted to be killed. We all know why the kid wanted to die; he can't go on without his brother, but your reason is because you already have a limit to your life."

"Everyone has a limit," Kakashi breathed as he looked back at Iruka.

"But you know how long you have left, don't you?" the chuunin asked. "How long, Kakashi?"

Kakashi sighed as he turned around to face the chuunin. "One year, that's the estimation when I went to go get myself checked out a few days ago. But with that one year left, I'm not going to sit around and wait for death to take me, nor do I want to tell Gai about this, no one has to know, no one but you…"

He continued to walk away; Itachi had done this to him. Itachi was the one who killed him, but he always knew that he would be the death of him. Being with that child was a taboo all together, and taboos killed people. The last sight that he would ever see was Itachi; he was all he could think of. Everything was about Itachi, he could see him everywhere, feel how soft his skin was, how silky the strands of his hair were, his scent still rolling through his nostrils. If he was going to die, he was going to do it with Itachi on his mind, to see that smile one last time in his life.

_Itachi, I hope that you can finally admit that you were wrong about people. Not everyone is waiting for the moment where they're going to run away from you. They aren't all like me. I hope that you find the happiness that you always wanted. I hope that you can finally look at yourself and not see an insect, but see what you really are: a vision. _He closed his eye as he clutched his temple, the pains were getting closer and harder, he knew that if he was granted a year, he was lucky. His time was of the essence, it was all going to be over.

-----

He snuggled deeper into the pillows, remembering the times that he had spent with his brother. All of the security was gone, there was nothing left of the times where he would wake up to Itachi's face, hearing his voice greet him kindly, traces of a smile on his face. That had all abandoned him, even his memories were gone.

"What I would give," he breathed, holding onto the Akatsuki robe that he left behind tightly. "What I would give just to have you back for one more night, just one more moment so I can say goodbye."

The rain had stopped, the sky darkening outside as he thought about where he had to be. Tonight was Naruto's funeral. He had been dreading this moment since he left the Hokage's office. How could he go to a funeral when he had unlocked power due to that death? He felt like he killed him every time he vomited, every time he felt light-headed. With every drop of blood that he saw, he only thought of the blood running from his eyes. He couldn't see the happiness that he and Naruto once had; it was all fading away just like the clouds above.

To see his smile, to feel his embrace one more time, he would give anything. He tried so hard to save his teammates from all of this, but it was worth nothing, now he knew that he was wrong. When he saw Sakura again, he knew that she was hurting, to see her at the funeral would be too much. To see the look in her eyes as they buried Naruto Uzumaki would be enough to make him cry.

A knock came at the front door as he stood up; it was probably Shikamaru and Chouji bringing him to the funeral. Team 10 had been great support through all of this trouble, they were the only ones who had survived the wrath and had gone untainted, although their sensei was hurt throughout all of this.

He walked to the door, opening it to see Shikamaru and Chouji standing there with straight faces. They could feel Sasuke's pain; they could see the tears that he wanted to cry. To lose your best friend was the hardest pain that anyone ever had to go through.

"Hey Sasuke," Shikamaru said softly, testing to see if Sasuke still talked.

"Hey," Sasuke answered softly, starting to walk alongside them, his eyes looking down at the ground. He always thought that his funeral was going to be first, he thought that he was going to be the one to die on this mission. There were several times he could have, but Itachi save him. Naruto didn't have an Itachi to save him, Sasuke didn't have enough chakra and thanks to that he was now laying in a casket.

The wind blew swiftly as he thought about the times that he had with Naruto before the Itachi incident, all of their constant dueling, all of the constant fighting, all of that was gone now. He rarely saw him smile after that, he rarely heard his laugh, all he saw was the look of sadness in his eyes as he called himself one word: abomination. Sasuke cringed at that word now, that's why Naruto killed himself, because he thought himself to be an abomination. Sasuke never thought of him like that.

People gathered into the place where the funeral was being held, everyone's eyes watering dramatically. In the casket in from of them was Naruto Uzumaki, a twelve-year-old genin. He couldn't listen to the words that the people were saying, he couldn't believe that this was really happening. The speeches were all blocked out in his mind; all he could hear was the sound of Naruto's voice.

"_Don't die… promise me that you're going to come out of this all alive. If you think about dying before I do… if you even think about it, I'll… I'll hate you more than I already do you bastard."_

"Naruto," he breathed, closing his eyes, hearing Sakura cry. "Why? Why now? Out of all times, why now?"

Sakura cried softly on Ino's shoulder. "Naruto…"

"_Because… I'm losing everything that I thought was important to me, I've already lost my best friend. You're the last thing that I have left, but then again there's a difference between you and Sasuke. I love you, Sakura, but I'm going to let you go, no matter how hard it is."_

"Why?" she cried as she buried her face in Ino's shoulder. "Why did you do this to yourself," her whole body was shaking as she tried to stop her crying. "I love you too, but by the time that I found that out, it was already too late. You're gone."

Sasuke moved over to touch Sakura's shoulder, his eyes closing as he tried to fight the tears. "This is what he wanted. Don't think that he did this to hurt us; he did this to himself to save our lives, Sakura. He did it for you and me."

Sakura looked up into Sasuke's dark eyes, watching the tears form in the corners. "Sasuke, you're crying," she wiped one of the tears away. "It's going to be alright," she moved her body from Ino's to his. "Tell me it's going to be alright."

He returned the embrace as he watched Iruka start to cry over in the corner. He could see the other jounin with their heads bowed, trying to hide the fact that they were feeling sorrow, abiding by the twenty-fifth principle. Team 10 was looking at Sasuke and Sakura, their eyes watering as they did so. All he could hear was Sakura's crying as he looked over at the casket, his whole body shaking as he tried to shake the sadness. Naruto was gone; he was never coming back to them.

They separated as Sakura grasped a flower that she had purchased at Ino's flower shop, walking up to the casket to put it on top. Her tears touched the porcelain petals as he she looked down at where Naruto was enclosed, her hand moving to her lips, trying to muffle her sobs.

"Sakura," Kakashi breathed. "Don't cry, would Naruto was you to cry for him? He did this to save you, not to hurt you," he looked over at his other student. "You too Sasuke. Naruto thought that giving up his own life would ensure that the two of you would get out of that battle that you were thrown into alive. He was only thinking about the outcome of the battle, he didn't want to think about your farewell."

"Naruto gave his life to save the village from Kabuto and the Akatsuki, he didn't want to see anyone else get hurt," Iruka sighed, with a weak smile. "You would have made an excellent Hokage, Naruto."

"To stand by your comrades in battle and think about them in front of your own well being, is one of the greatest qualities of being a ninja. No one is a true ninja until they have someone to protect," Asuma looked at the casket. "That boy was a real ninja, he cared about you selflessly, giving his own life as if it was worthless compared to what you were to him."

"To have someone to love, to have someone to fight for is not only key to fighting, it's the most important thing," Gai stated, his eyes glancing gently at Kakashi. "Even if you aren't sure if you're going to make it, if you aren't sure of the outcome, when you have someone to care about you take a chance…"

Kurenai placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "And you will fight until the end for that person; you will stand by that person and not only care about them, but care about yourself to. To save someone and to sacrifice yourself, that it not only love and respect, it's almost like he took you two and made him a permanent part of himself."

"You guys will be fine," Ino stated with a smile. "He gave you all a chance at life again. Don't waste his sacrifice, don't let him die in vain."

Chouji smiled. "That's right, friends are hard to come by, especially friends that will give everything for you, and even if you aren't together anymore you will always remember him."

There was a silence before Shikamaru took a deep breath. "He will forever be in your heart. Every smile, every laugh that passed your lips will remind you of him. The tears will remind you of how much he cared. The smiles of how much he loved you. The laughs of all of the good times that you had," he shook his head. "This isn't your farewell. This isn't goodbye. This is nothing more than his physical form leaving you, but he will be alive in your memories and that's where you will treasure him."

Sakura nodded as she looked back at the grave. "I will always remember you, Naruto. No matter what happens…"

Sasuke smiled gently as he looked at everyone, mouthing a thank you. He then moved to wrap his arm around Sakura. "We have to live our lives to the fullest, not change them; we have to stay the same way that Naruto remembered. He wouldn't want us to try to become better people. He wants you to stay his beautiful Sakura and me to stay that bastard Sasuke, and that's what I'm going to do."

She smiled as she kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Sasuke…"

He closed his eyes tightly as he thought about one more person: Itachi. How can he forget him? He knew that he never would. There was no way that he was going to forget the passion and love that he and Itachi had. He wasn't going to forget the moments that they had shared. This wasn't their farewell either; he knew that one he would be back. He just had to wait.

"I'm going to take Sakura home," Ino announced as she started to pull Sakura away. "Come on, you'll feel better after you get some sleep. We can come back here tomorrow with flowers, would you like that?"

"Would you come with me?" Sakura asked.

Ino smiled as tears formed in her eyes. "Of course, you're my best friend after all. I will come here with you everyday if you want me to."

Sakura smiled as she started to walk away. "Thank you, Ino."

Everyone was starting to leave, Sasuke standing behind as Iruka's hand was placed on his shoulder. "Take as long as you want Sasuke," he patted him on the head as he walked away. "Take as long as you want."

As everyone left, Sasuke touched the casket gently. "I didn't want this. I never asked you to do this for me," he closed his eyes as the tears started to fall. "I didn't want you to die…"

"_I'm not going to suffer anymore. You gave me a choice once, you told me… you told me that I could either die or live in fear, I made my choice… I want to die…"_

"I'll never forget you," he breathed as he rubbed the casket. "I'm always going to remember you," he took a deep breath. "This is not our farewell; you'll be in my heart."

He stood up and started to walk back home, the wind blowing fiercely against him. This was not the path that he wanted Naruto to walk, but now there was no turning back. He risked everything for him. He was never going to change; he was going to be the same Sasuke that Naruto wanted him to be. He wasn't going to let him die in vain.

"Naruto… I miss you…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **I know that this chapter was kind of short and semi rushed, but I thought that I should have a chapter about Naruto even though he is no longer part of the cast in this story. I'm also sorry about Kakashi, I know that it's mean that his time is running out, but he has had a good run even if he dies as well. The question that everyone is probably asking is what happened to Itachi? The answer will be in the next and final chapter (one chapter left, I'm so happy and sad at the same time). So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that I shouldn't have killed Naruto? I love honesty, even as the story comes to a close. 


	43. Chapter 43

**Disclaimer: **This is my last disclaimer for this chapter. After this five month run, I still don't own anything that has to do with the anime/manga _Naruto._

**Warnings: **This chapter contains incest, yaoi, slight yuri, sexual content, references to violence, coarse language, use of alcohol, use of tobacco, OOC, and the canon is only making small appearences. There are also a few errors in here, so excuse me for that. This is also my last chapter of this story.

**Pairings: **ItaSasu, ItaKabu, KakaIta, references to AsuKure, slight GaiKaka, a little InoSaku

* * *

"He appreciates all of these flowers, Sakura," Ino smiled at her friend as they placed a bouquet of flowers on the grave. 

A week had passed since the day when they buried Naruto, and everyday Ino and Sakura would visit the grave and remember what he was before he died. They only talked about the positive aspects, mostly old Academy stories. They smiled as they remembered all of the dumb remarks, the jealousy towards Sasuke, his not so secret crush on Sakura. Sakura always smiled as Ino tried to keep Naruto in a positive light before the time where Sakura left to go with Kabuto.

Sakura placed a hand over Naruto's name on the grave stone, tears rolling down her cheeks. All she could see was that smile on his face every time that he had talked to her in the Academy, she never paid attention to him, thinking that he was annoying, nothing more than a nuisance. Now as she thought back to all of those times, she wished she could have been different around him. If she had, would he be dead? Would he have taken his own life?

"Why?" Sakura asked. "Why did he have to die?"

"Sakura," Ino sighed. "You have to stop blaming yourself for all of this. You didn't kill him, no one did. He chose to do this, respect his choice to save your life from Kabuto and the Sound village, don't hate it."

"I'm sorry," Sakura breathed. "I guess I always thought he was immortal, that nothing would ever kill him. I was wrong. He would have healed himself if it wasn't for that damn poison, if I had fought Kabuto off that night… maybe…" she took a deep breath. "Maybe Naruto would still be here. Maybe no one would have died."

Ino bowed her head. "Sakura…"

The two of them looked at the flowers on the grave, Sakura's eyes still filled with tears. The day when Kabuto would find justice was far away from the current day, they had a feeling he might never find that justice that everyone wanted him to find. What he did to Sakura was unforgivable as was the pain that he had caused Sasuke. He was a larger threat to the village than Itachi Uchiha.

"When do you think that village will do away with Kabuto?" Sakura asked as she looked over at Ino. "I don't want to know that he's in this village, whether he's imprisoned or not. I don't want to know that the man that almost killed me is in the same village as me."

Ino sighed. "At least Itachi's gone…"

"I don't hate Itachi," Sakura breathed, closing her eyes. "When he was going to kill me, he was only killing me because he didn't want to see me become like Kabuto. He wanted me to die the girl who he met in the hospital, the girl who helped him. Ever since that day, I know now that I have to become that girl, I have to become the Sakura Haruno that would never turn her back on her friends. I have to become the Sakura Haruno who doesn't want revenge. I have to be the old me."

"Itachi Uchiha," Ino sighed. "What exactly was he here for?"

"Why else would a ninja of such high station come to this village," Sakura asked. "He wanted to stop his organization from getting the fox that they wanted to grasp so badly. He was here to foil the plans of the people who had let him go. He was here to stop Orochimaru right where he stood."

Sakura stood up looking down at the grave. "I know that one day, someday, if Kabuto and I ever meet again, if I ever see him again," she took a deep breath. "He will regret it, because the next time we meet one of us will die," she closed her eyes loosely. "I will avenge you, Naruto; I will make sure that Kabuto Yakushi will pay for what he did to you."

Ino looked up at her best friend. "Do you think that you will be able to do it alone? I'll help you," she gazed into wide green eyes. "I will train with you everyday until there is nothing left to train for. I will be there when Kabuto goes down; I owe him a hit over the head."

Together they looked back at Naruto's grave; Sakura was going to become stronger just like Naruto always wanted. It wasn't only for Naruto, it was for Sakura, it was for her knowing that her dream could still come true. She was going to be strong, she was no longer going to sit back and watch as everybody else did the work anymore. She wasn't going to put that weight on Sasuke. She was going to be her own person.

_Just you wait, Kabuto, you're going to pay for this. I'm going to be the one to kill you. _She started to walk away with Ino by her side, through her peripheral vision looking back at Naruto's grave one last time. He wasn't going to die in vain; she was going to embrace the sacrifice, the chance that he had given her. She was going to use this second chance and she was finally going to correct the wrongs that she had caused. This was only the beginning.

-----

"Are you going to talk?" Asuma asked as he pressed his hands up against the table. "Tell us what the Akatsuki is planning. What were you doing with them? And with you gone, what are they going to do?"

Kabuto snickered from his seat. "To answer your questions: if I can avoid it, I have no clue, I was a pawn, and I suppose they'll be proud to know that they got rid of me. Does that answer your questions, Asuma Sarutobi? Or do you need more information out of pawn like me?"

The jounin sat down across from the Sound ninja. "What were you doing with Itachi Uchiha?"

"You want to know the truth?" Kabuto asked with a grin. "I was going to kill him," he looked up into the jounin's shocked eyes. "I was going to bring him back to my master and kill him. Did you think it was just for the fox and that damn little Itachi? No, I wanted the older brother, that's why I came here in the first place, I've always dreamed of feeling that blood on my face."

Asuma shook his head. "Kill him?"

"Kill him, do you know how much the organization wants that mistake that they made corrected? They will kill everyone in this village if it means that they will get what they want. Itachi will fall one of these days, maybe not by my hand, but the Akatsuki is on the move. I can sense them all coming to get him. I can sense every last one of them coming from hiding and looking for him. He's not going to be safe after they find him. After all, he was the one who killed the fox."

Asuma sighed. "What about your life? Don't you care about what's going to happen to you after they find you?"

The younger ninja laughed at the question. "Do you think that I care what happens to me? I gave everything that I am to Lord Orochimaru, if it is time for me to expire, then there's nothing that I can do against him."

Asuma closed his eyes. "Why do you follow him?"

"Why do you follow your father?" Kabuto asked back, adjusting his glasses. "It's just what we do. We don't ask questions about the people that we follow, we just follow every command that they give us. If you know why you follow the Hokage, you will know why I follow Orochimaru."

"You think that my father and Orochimaru are the same? That's where you're wrong. My father would never send people on mindless missions where people are going to have a one hundred percent chance of dying."

Kabuto snickered as he watched the jounin bite at his lip, his eyes narrowing. The air in the room got thin and stiff as they looked into each other's eyes. Kabuto Yakushi was not like him. The way that he respected his father was not the same way that Orochimaru was respected.

"Oh come on, your Hokage did something worse. He was too busy paying attention to that weakling to even think about sending people to the real problem. I was the real problem, but you all were fixated on him being the one who made the village suffer. You were a fool to think that he would do all of this. He wanted to take his brother and run, you should have let him," Kabuto smirked. "Itachi was the one saving you all along, and you were attacking him, and now you're attacking his brother. Pathetic, that's what you are."

The jounin slammed his hands against the table. "Where is Itachi Uchiha off to in such a rush? Where is he going?"

"How should I know? He's probably on his way to take care of those people in the Akatsuki. Did you think that you could keep him in one spot forever? Itachi has always been one to wander. I don't know what's going through his mind, but I know it means nothing good for you and your village," Kabuto looked over at the jounin who was pulling out a cigarette. "First one in a while isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" Asuma asked.

"Since the injury that Kakashi Hatake gave you, you haven't been able to smoke. Now that you are breathing properly you can give into your habit once again and once again you can start smoking. Are my answers upsetting you? Do you expect me just to give you everything that you want? I'm not like that. I won't talk of this plan that I had, because it no longer alive, it died with that boy in the woods."

"What do you think of that?" the jounin asked lighting his cigarette. "Are you mad because of what happened? Are you mad at what Itachi Uchiha has done to you? Are you mad because he stopped your plan?"

"No," Kabuto answered. "I'm not mad at him," he looked up into his dark eyes. "To know that he is stronger than he was before, that he can defeat them. That's what makes me content. I know that one day, he will do just that, he will make every last one of them pay for what they did to him, and no one is going to stop him. Not your father, not the Akatsuki, not Orochimaru. He will have his blood."

Asuma narrowed his eyes as he stood up. "I'm done with you here."

He walked out the door to be met with another jounin. "So what did you get?"

"Nothing," the other jounin said. "I'm telling you, Gai, there's no getting information out of that kid. It's like talking to a wall. All he does is sit there, nothing happens. I need a drink every time I try to speak to him."

Gai sighed. "That bad, huh?"

"I just wish that he would tell us everything before we have to torture him," Asuma sighed. "Why is he not talking about anything that has to do with Orochimaru or Itachi. Doesn't he know that we'd let him go?"

"I don't think he wants to be let go," Gai stated. "Anyway, you've been through a lot, you don't have to stay here all day and talk to him. You should go home to Kurenai; she's getting worried about you. I don't want to see you get hurt again because of all of this mayhem."

Asuma laughed at the remark. "Only a month ago, you were hoping that something happened to me. Now you don't want to see me get hurt. A lot has changed since then hasn't it. It's like none of our lives are the same anymore, every last one of us has been hit by this situation somehow. Some greater than others."

"You mean Sasuke," Gai answered lightly. "I'm sure that he's doing fine, that kid is Kakashi's prized student. I don't doubt that he has developed Kakashi's cool calm demeanor."

-----

"Everything wasn't a lie," Sasuke breathed as he flipped through the book. "He wasn't using me. Why would Itachi use me when I was weak and then leave me when I got strong? It doesn't make any sense."

Sasuke was on his knees on the ground, looking through the pages of the book that Itachi had left behind, the one that had taught them medical ninjutsu; it was the only way that he could still be close to him. The blood on the pages was still there, still making Sasuke wish that his brother would come back into his arms, but he knew now that he never would. It had been a week since he buried his best friend; it was time to move on.

As he looked at the blood, a surge of pain went through his head, his whole body shaking. _They're getting closer and sharper. I can't lose control over these eyes. I own these eyes, they don't own me. _He looked up at the window seeing the sun start to set. The days went by quickly ever since the day that he left. Some people would say that sometimes when people leave you, the days go by so slowly. But the days went slower when he was by his side.

"Itachi," Sasuke breathed, rubbing his forehead. "I don't want to lose all of the lessons that you taught me. I don't want you to take everything that we experienced and forget it all. I don't want you to fade away, just like you remained in my mind the last time. Only this time around instead of harboring hate for you, I feel nothing but love and longing. One day I will go looking for you. One day I will find you again, one day, you and I will be reunited," he touched the dried blood, closing his eyes tighter.

He took a deep breath as he rose from the ground, walking back to lay on the bed, remembering all of the times when he would just lay here with Itachi. He remembered the nights when his brother used to hold him, his hands running through his hair. This wasn't supposed to end like this. He wasn't supposed to walk away.

To walk away from him, to turn around and feel nothing as he left him, it was almost cruel. There was no way that he was going to keep on like this. Itachi wouldn't leave him alone like this, not after all of the power that he gained. Did Itachi even care about the power that was given to Sasuke? All of this time, did he fear the power that his own eyes had, or was he jealous that Sasuke's eyes might one day surpass his own. There were so many reasons, but none of them made sense. Every choice proved Itachi to be running from Sasuke.

"Where the hell are you?" he asked, his fingers tightening in the sheets. "What the hell were you trying to do? What the hell is going on? Why did you run away from me?"

He tried to think about the pain that Itachi must have gone through as he looked down at Sasuke's body. Did he think that he was dead? Did he think that he was going to die after the sharingan took hold of him? Itachi used a lot of chakra during his fights; there was nothing left for him to heal Sasuke's body before he got too deep into the transition. Now all he had was the memory of the moment right before he went off with Naruto, he had to remember him as he was as he was as he stood dying right in front of the enemy. He wasn't even sure if he was still alive. Did he go after the Akatsuki?

Sasuke closed his eyes as he felt tears form behind his eyelids. He had no reason to cry, he didn't feel sad. He was just lonely. All of his life his brother had teased him, played with him. He broke his promise again. He told him that he wasn't going to let anything happen to him. He promised with his life that nothing was going to cause pain to him. He had done just that, he had taken everything away from him. The greatest way that he could ever break that promise was the way that he had been this whole time, he had been abandoning him.

He said that he wouldn't leave unless Sasuke told him to. Never once did Sasuke tell him to leave that moment. Did he honestly think that he had to avenge what happened? Did he honestly think that he had to leave him all alone? To leave someone alone in that situation was cold even for him.

"What were you thinking?" Sasuke asked as he looked at the empty space next to him. "What were you thinking when you were running away from me? Did you know what you were leaving behind? Or were you clueless to what we had? You didn't know how much I would miss you, did you? You didn't know that I would be sitting in this bed every night crying for no reason," he buried his face in the pillow. "Itachi," he took a deep breath as he started to sob. "I don't want to be alone anymore! I don't want to be here, lying in this bed, waiting for you. I want to feel your arms around me one more time. I want to kiss your lips and hear you say that you love me. I would give anything for that pleasure one more time."

The sun continued to set, it had been over a week since he was here, Itachi Uchiha was slowly fading from his life. Back then, he would have loved to forget his face for one day, to have some peace. Now it was different, the second that his face was gone from his memories was the second when he was going to have to leave. He was going to see Itachi again even if meant he had to die.

"I don't want to lose you," he wiped the tears from his eyes. "This is not how it's going to end. I'm not going to let it end like this. Someday, someway, I'll find you once again," he closed his eyes, blocking his blurring vision. "Itachi, I love you. I will never stop loving you no matter how much they want me to."

Sasuke grasped the pillow tightly, looking up into the sky, his body moving uneasily against the sheets. There was no way that he was going to get through the night, but he knew that he could. He had done it for years; he was going to get over. The cold. He wasn't going to let him die in his memories. Itachi was alive, and he was going to stay that way for years to come.

-----

_They're all gone, about time. _Kabuto sat in his cell, looking up at the ceiling. All of the questioning had gotten old, he was sick of being stuck in here. He was no longer of any use; they had to do one of two things to him. They could either kill him or let him go. Even death seemed better than this.

He looked into the darkness of the hall; no one was here to ask him questions tonight. Asuma Sarutobi, must have had better things to do than ask him more. He knew better than anyone else that Kabuto wasn't going to give them any answers to any questions. He had chased all of the jounin away from here.

"I guess I'm just too smart for my own good," he leaned up against the wall closing his eyes.

The he heard it, the footsteps coming to the doorway of the cell. It wasn't a jounin; all of the jounin had called it a night. It was someone else. Who could it be? Was it the Akatsuki coming to tie up the loose ends that they had left when they let him live? This was getting to the point when this was not the way that he wanted to live. Why were they coming so early?

He moved closer to the window, away from the door that was now starting to open from the person who was outside. He could sense the power outside, but it wasn't anyone that he had been following orders from. He could smell the scent of jasmine; feel the air of extremely strong chakra.

"Kabuto," the voice said as the door opened, a young ninja in the doorway. "They managed to keep a hold on you for that long?"

Kabuto shook his head as he tried to focus on the person who was in front of him. It was like a ghost from the past that was coming back to haunt him. There was no way he had come back from where he had gone. The village was now going to be in trouble. Itachi Uchiha was back.

"What are you doing here?" Kabuto asked as he looked into Itachi's black eyes. "What possessed you to come to me?"

"I'm here to free you," he answered as he walked toward him.

"Why?" Kabuto asked as the door opened wider. "What did I ever do for you that made me worthy of your mercy? Why are you going to free me? Do you feel that bad for me? Or are you here to get me caught?"

Itachi chuckled. "You have to get Orochimaru way from the Akatsuki if you want a running start. I'm not going to spare anybody in this plan that they had. Everyone is going to die for what they did to me. They will pay for all of the pain that I have gone through. I won't rest until every last one of them is dead."

"Big words," Kabuto laughed as he walked toward the door. "Where are the guards?"

"I knocked them out with genjutsu," Itachi answered, following Kabuto down the hall. "I don't know how long it's going to last, so let's keep going."

Kabuto ran faster down the halls with Itachi by his side. After all of the pain that he had caused him, after all of the hurt, he still wanted to save him. But why? Why was Kabuto so important to him all of a sudden? Kabuto had done nothing but hurt him throughout the whole mission. This wasn't the way that he expected Itachi to treat him after all of that.

"Keep on running until you get to the edge of the village, follow the path with the knocked out guards," Itachi announced as they made it to the front door, trying to open it, hearing footsteps coming up behind them, he had missed a few guards. "Shit…"

"Leave me," Kabuto breathed. "Get out of here the way you came in."

"This is how I came in, they must have locked the doors so we couldn't get out," he curled his hand into a fist. "Pity, they must not know who they're dealing with," he slammed his fist to the door, the hard surface crumbling beneath the leather of his gloves. "Let's go…"

Kabuto shook his head as he followed him. _I'm never going to get used to that._

They ran farther away from the prison, Itachi trying desperately to catch his breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead. His lungs were still scarred, breathing was going to be difficult for a while, but there wasn't much time before he left this place. He looked over at Kabuto one last time.

"Go warn the Akatsuki of what's coming," Itachi answered as he continued to pant. "Tell them that I'm going to kill them."

Kabuto looked out to the distance, taking a deep breath of the air. The Akatsuki didn't know what they had coming. Itachi was a wrath that they had tried to downplay for ages, now there was no way to downplay him. He was too strong for most of them. They were all going to fall at his feet and the Sound Village wasn't going to stop them. This was going to be the end of that organization. Kabuto could feel it.

-----

"What's going on?" Gai asked as he walked up to Asuma who was at the scene of the escape at the prison. "What the hell happened here? Did someone break out?"

Asuma nodded as he looked up into Gai's eyes. "Kabuto Yakushi broke out only a few hours ago. The guards don't remember a thing. They say that they were unconscious during the time frame," he picked up at piece of the door. "Whoever did this had to be strong. No one can break through these doors with normal strength."

Gai looked at the pieces. "It was taijutsu. But who could Kabuto know who was that strong? Was it Orochimaru?"

They looked around the scene, at all of the half conscious guards, something had happened here that was extreme, something that they couldn't just brush off as nothing. This breakout was well thought out and for a reason. None of the guards were killed; they were just simply put under a spell, like a genjutsu.

"High levels of taijutsu, a knowledge of genjutsu, and being involved with Kabuto Yakushi?" Asuma asked, his eyes widening as he found out who it was. "Itachi Uchiha," he answered. "He's back…"

Gai closed his eyes. "What the hell is he doing here? What does he want with us? Naruto's dead, we have nothing left to give him."

Asuma shook his head. "We do have one last thing for him," he looked up at the other jounin. "We have Sasuke, that's what he's coming back for. He knows that he's alive. He's coming back to get him."

Gai shook his head as he tried to think. "What do we do?"

Asuma took a drag on his cigarette. "We let him take the boy. Kakashi is in rough shape, him having a team will only make his death sentence sooner. You know as well as I do that he doesn't have much time."

"Kakashi lives for those kids, he would die for them," Gai answered. "You want to take that away from him? You want him to lose everything that he has to that man? It's true that he doesn't have much time to live, but it's not like it's sooner than we think. He has some time left."

The older jounin sighed. "You don't know do you?"

"Know what?" Gai asked his voice shaking. "What's going on, Asuma?"

"Gai," Asuma started as he looked at the other jounin, watching his body start to shake. "Kakashi has around a year left. The doctors said that his lungs and heart are slowly failing him; the genjutsu was good enough to mess up impulses and receptions. He's not going to last much longer."

Gai looked at the pieces of the door. "I knew that he was going to die. I just didn't want him to," he clutched the material tighter. "I didn't want to know that because I was too late to help him that he was the one who suffered. You Asuma, you tried to stop him. You left your post for him. You risked everything. I hated you because of that, because you were there to protect the village while I was too weak to."

"You are far from weak," Asuma answered.

"I knew that one day I would be hurt by all of this, but it wasn't because of the blade of a sword like what happened to you. It was because I watched my friend, scream in his sleep. I watched Kakashi uncontrollably cry for no reason. I had to check his pulse every time that he woke up to see if it was regular, check to see if he was breathing clearly. It was Hell, and it's still Hell to know that this will never end until he's gone," he shook his head. "I will find a way to stop this from happening. I will find a way to save him before he dies," he looked at the broken door. "Even if I have to rely on that brat to get stronger to save him," he looked at Asuma. "Find him and tell him to grow stronger at medical ninjutsu."

The taijutsu master walked away from Asuma, the other jounin looking down at the debris. "Gai, don't put this all on yourself," he closed his eyes. "Don't hide the pain, share it," he kicked the pieces. "I'm to blame too."

He went back to his work of searching the place for any wounded people. "Itachi is back…"

-----

Kakashi walked into a bar; today he was starting to feel a little better. He didn't need the cane like he usually did. He felt as though he was never injured, but he knew that wasn't the case. He still had headaches; still felt the pain with every heartbeat. He couldn't drown that out.

"I thought that I would find you here," Kakashi breathed as he walked up to a person in a robe. "It's been a week since anyone has seen your face in the village," he watched as the figure took another drink. "Since when do they let children your age drink?"

The figure took another sip. "What are you doing here…?"

"Looking for you," Kakashi breathed, sitting next to him. "I knew that I would find you somewhere with alcohol. You can't get rid of that habit can you?" he placed a hand on one of the figure's leather gloved ones. "Itachi," he breathed. "Are you alright?"

The glass hit the table as he looked over at the jounin. "How is the manifestation going? Is Sasuke alright?"

"Sasuke's fine," Kakashi answered as he looked into his old comrade's eyes. "Why do you ask? Are you worried about him?" he watched Itachi take another sip. "You _are_ worried about him."

"No shit!" Itachi snapped as he slammed his drink down again. "I have been thinking about him ever since I left. I was thinking about him bleeding next to the river. I was thinking about the pain that he was going through. I didn't want that for him. I never wanted that for him. All I wanted was for him to be proud of himself, to unleash his potential. I wanted to find a safer way to awaken the power. I was searching for it, trying to find short cuts."

"Maybe there isn't a short cut," Kakashi answered.

Itachi looked down into his drink. "You know why I'm back. You're here to stop me, aren't you?" he tightened his fist. "Kakashi, you know damn well that I need that boy by my side. Not just for sex, for something more. I want to see the smile on his face when he does something right, I want to hear him laugh as he gets closer to surpassing me, I want to see the look of happiness in those eyes that are destined to be stronger than my own. I want too much…"

Kakashi watched as Itachi started to stand up. "You know, you aren't really like me when it comes to the way that you treat Sasuke. You might have left him when he needed you the most, but there's one difference between me and you," he watched as Itachi turned around to look at him. "You came back," he smiled beneath his mask. "You came back to him in the long run, and he will take you back, because he loves you. You weren't too much of a fool to see that."

Itachi walked out of the door, Kakashi starting to follow him. "I won't do what you did… stop comparing us."

"Itachi," Kakashi breathed. "You don't know why I left."

"You left the same reason why everyone else left. You got sick of me, you got sick of the fact that I was the way that I was," Itachi lowered his hood to look at Kakashi face to face. "Stop trying to act like you did it for any other reason."

Kakashi shook his head. "I loved you, Itachi, you know that. But the pain that you were going through, I knew that I was going to be the cause of only more of that pain. I didn't want to watch as you were destroyed because of me."

"If you love somebody, you'll let them go?" Itachi scoffed. "That's why you did all of that, because you thought letting me go would help everything. Well what do you think now? Are you proud of what I am?"

Kakashi nodded as he walked closer to him. "I am proud of what you've become. I'm glad to see that you have finally gotten your life together. You are a beautiful person, brilliant even. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Itachi nodded as he looked into Kakashi's eyes. "I know that I am a better person than I was before. I now know that this was the way that I have to act. This is the way that I want to live my life. No more time for second guessing myself, no more time for thinking that I should be more callous. I know this is how I'm supposed to be for the rest of my life. This is the new me."

Kakashi moved to run his fingers through Itachi's long black hair. "I won't stand in your way. Go to Sasuke," he pressed his masked lips to Itachi's forehead. "Don't make him to insane with waiting."

Itachi nodded as he walked away from Kakashi, toward the direction of where his brother was. He was going to see him once more before this was all over. He wasn't going to let him leave his grasp this soon. He was going to win him back with all of his might. Just for one more day, he would love to see those obsidian eyes without tears plaguing them. Just for one more day.

-----

Sasuke took another sip of the alcohol that Itachi had left behind. It was like kissing him, it was how his breath tasted, burning his mouth to no end. He was trying to get rid of the pain that he was feeling whenever he saw his brother's face, trying to only see the love that they had. This wasn't going to be the way that he remembered him for the rest of his life. He was going to forget the pain that was caused.

Yet how could he? The pain was part of the reason why they were even still together. The hardships only made the other times look like they were glorious. He wanted that glory. He wanted that grace. He wanted that bliss. He closed his eyes as he remembered the orgasmic afterglow of the passion of their relationship. This wasn't the way that he wanted it to end.

"Itachi," he breathed before swallowing more alcohol. "Why am I still here while your out there in the world?" he took another sip. "Naruto would be so proud of me right now. I'm sitting on my bed drinking my brother's alcohol," he laughed half drunkenly as he put the bottle down.

He then heard a knock on the window, his eyes opening as he sat up in bed. He slowly made it to the window, opening it to see what it was. Was it just the wind or was it something more than that?

"Hello?" he asked as he looked out the open window. "Who is it?"

"Do I smell alcohol, little brother?" a voice as he as a hand touched Sasuke's; the darkness clearing it was Itachi. "Have you been drinking from my stash?"

Sasuke smiled lightly as he looked into his brother's eyes. "Brother," he moved his hand to make impact across his cheek with a smack. "Where the hell have you been for a week? I have been waiting forever for you to come back to me. Why did you leave?"

Itachi opened his mouth to speak. "I thought you were going to die…"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Then why did you come back."

"Because," he stroked Sasuke's cheek. "I wanted to take my chances. I wanted to see you again," he kissed him lightly on the neck. "Sasuke… I missed you."

Sasuke pulled him off of his neck. "Come in," he breathed, watching his brother walking to the front of the house. His heart was racing as he moved to the front door, he stood behind the front door as it opened, his brother taking him into an embrace.

They kissed each other furiously as Itachi picked him off of the ground, the younger boy moaning into the kiss, his hands running through his ponytail. For too long he had gone without these feelings, without the electric sensations that Itachi's body gave him. He slid his tongue past Itachi's lips tasting the alcohol on his breath. He pressed his back up against the wall as he felt his brother separate from the kiss.

"Itachi," he breathed, his legs tightening around his waist. "I missed you so fucking much," he felt Itachi's tongue run along his pulse point. "I couldn't stop thinking about since the day that you left," he let out a low moan. "Itachi…"

Itachi kissed him one last time before he backed away. "I don't ever want to leave you again," he looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Come with me…"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he was put back on the ground. "Itachi?"

The older Uchiha smiled weakly. "You know what happened that day in the woods, you know about the power that you have unlocked, you know for a fact that it's going to advance. The mangekyou is stronger than you think it is," he kissed Sasuke's eye lid. "You've been trying to numb that pain, but I can make it go away. I can teach you everything that I know about this."

Sasuke closed is eyes. "I don't even know what this power is."

"There is nothing in Konoha that can help you, nothing is here but pain. This is where Naruto lies. This is where your journey started. This is where your friends are. I can make it so you never have to hurt them. I can make it so you can unleash your potential and never question your power."

Sasuke looked back at Itachi. "There were times where I was scared of you, times where I thought that you were going to leave me. I know now that I was just being an idiot. You were never trying to leave me," he took a deep breath. "And none of that matters, because you came back to me," he wrapped his arms around Itachi's body. "You came back…"

"I wasn't going to leave you forever," Itachi breathed, feeling his brother start to cry. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here now, I'm here," he held onto him tighter. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he closed his eyes. "I promise that."

Sasuke buried his face in his shoulder. He knew now what he had to do. This is what he had wanted all long. This was his destiny. To unleash his potential and surpass Itachi, those were his new goals, there was only one way to do that. There was only one road left to walk. He took his hand as they stood up together, looking out the widow into the starry sky. This was their destiny.

-----

The front door to the Uchiha house opened as Kakashi walked through the doorway, Sakura right next to him. They had come to check up on him every night since the day that Naruto had been buried. This time they weren't met with tears they were met with silence.

"What do you think is wrong?" Sakura asked, walking farther into the house. "Sasuke?"

Kakashi's eyes widened. _He didn't. _He looked over at his student. "You check outside. I'll check the bedroom."

They broke off from one another, Kakashi moving toward the bedroom to see the door open. Slowly, he walked into the room to see what was inside. There was nothing. Sasuke was nowhere in sight. He walked closer to the bed hoping that Sasuke was still there somewhere inside of the house. His heart was slowing down as he found one thing: note folded up on the bed, the word _Kakashi _written on it. He opened the note, his fingers shaking as his skin constricted tightly, hugging his bones.

_Kakashi, I know that you once told me that revenge would never solve anything, it would just make you feel empty on the inside. I'm taking that to heart. All of the lessons that you taught me showed me that if I didn't respect the people that I was working with I would never make it anywhere. I have found someone to respect._

_I don't doubt that I love Itachi with everything that I have. I don't doubt that my world stopped on its axis while he was gone. It was all true; I could never kill Itachi because I was never strong enough to admit I was weak enough to give up my emotions. I'm going to do what Naruto wanted to do for me; I won't run from the path that I need to walk. This is where I belong with Itachi._

_I will always remember you and everything that you did; I will also always remember Sakura as well. You two made me realize how wrong I was for four years. Thank you for opening my eyes. Thank you for bringing me to my path: Itachi._

_-Sasuke Uchiha_

Kakashi closed his eyes as he finished reading the note. "You finally found your way. You finally found where you were supposed to be. I'm proud of both of you."

Sakura ran through the door. "I didn't see him anywhere…"

Kakashi was silent.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" she walked closer. "Where's Sasuke?"

Kakashi looked back at her. "In a better place," she looked at him confusedly.

He closed his eyes seeing them right before his eyes, with the curse of the swollen obsidian eyes gone from their faces. They had finally found where they were supposed to be. They had finally wiped away their tears. But they would always be known as they were while they were in each other arms with swollen obsidian eyes.

* * *

**Author's Note: **This was the ending of _Swollen Obsidian Eyes_, the last chapter of the forty-three chapter monster, and I made my goal by ending on Sasuke's birthday July 23. I want to thank everyone for all of the support that you have given me. This was really fun for me. I also want to thank all of the people who gave me tips to improve, I'll keep that in mind for the next story that I write. As for a sequeal I don't know if that will be happening, but I wouldn't completely rule it out. Once again, I made it onto sixty favorites lists and thirty-four alert lists, thanks for all of that support. This story wouldn't have been the same without all of you to enjoy it. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Think that this story didn't come to a real close? Honesty is always my policy. I looks forward to seeing all of you in the future of my ItaSasu writing career. Thank you all one last time. 


End file.
